Antonio X Lovina Baby Story
by Miss Vampire Authoress
Summary: This a Human AU Series that focuses on the Nations' journies through love and life, through childhood & family, highschool & growing up, marriage & divorce. It all leads up to the birth of thier first born child. This one is about Antonio & Lovina. Warning: Lots of gender bending for logic's sake.
1. Chapter 1

Hetalia AU: Baby stories

Story One: Antonio/Lovina

Chapter 1: Meeting

Note: I own nothing.

Monaco: Maria

Catherine: Portugal

**Meeting**

**Spring**

Antonio Fernandez-Carriedo, age five, didn't understand what was going on. He hadn't seen his mama in weeks, and people had been crying ever since. His papa and big sister, Catherine, had been crying for days, and every time he saw Antonio or Antonio asked where mama was, papa hugged him close and cried some more. Today, his papa had woken him up early and gave him a bath, dressed him his nice little back suit—the one mama loved seeing him wear on special occasions—and then, when Antonio was ready and dressed, said, "Be strong, Antonio." Papa then took him and Catherine out and put him in his car seat and buckled Catherin up in her big girl seat in the back of the family car.

Papa drove to their local church, and it looked like there was something big going on today. Lots of cars were parked outside, and a lot of people dressed in black were heading inside the church. Papa took Antonio out of his car seat and held him on his hip tightly and safely; papa took him and Catherine inside, almost reluctantly it seemed.

When they entered the church, a lot of people turned and looked at them. Some whispered things to Papa like, "We're so sorry for your lose." Antonio wondered what they were sorry for exactly. Had they done something bad? And what had Papa lost? Antonio didn't know, nor did he have time to ask. Papa took Antonio to the front of the church, for the first time, Antonio noticed the weird box surrounded by flowers up there. Papa halted a few feet from the box and quietly told Antonio, "Please, Antonio, be strong."

Papa stepped up to stand before the box, and Antonio's green eyes widened. "Mama…?" In the box laid his mother, who looked fast asleep. Her long, curly brown hair was pinned up like she usually liked it, and her makeup was light and natural like she liked it, as well. However, her lips were red, just like they always were on special occasions; but what was so special about sleeping in a box? After a few moments, Papa took Antonio and Catherine to sit in the front row of pews. Papa sat next a man with curly hair and golden eyes, who patted him on the back sympathetically when Papa sat. The golden eyed man sat next to a man who looked like a younger version of him, who sat next to a woman with auburn hair and green eyes. Next to the lady were two little girls; one was in baby carriage, she had reddish hair like the lady, but golden eyes like the man next to papa. The other little girl sat on the far end of the pew with a pout as she played with the fringe of her little black dress. She had dark, curly hair like the golden eyed man, but her eyes were green like the lady. She couldn't have been more than two or three.

The priest started talking then. Antonio tried to pay attention, like Mama had always told him to during mass, but he just couldn't. He was so confused. Why was mama still asleep in the box? Mama always sat next to papa during mass, and never missed church services. Was she really sleepy or something? Then Antonio realized people were looking at him. Some, he heard, whispered things like, "The poor things. They don't even realize do they." What didn't he realize, Antonio wondered? After the priest was done speaking, people started going up to the Alter and spoke about someone named, "Isabella". Who was Isabella? So many questions, it was starting to make Antonio's head hurt. Some people in the church started crying, including papa. The last person to get up and speak was papa.

"The last time I saw my wife, I didn't get a chance to say goodbye or say how much I love her. But I'll say it now; I loved and still do love my wife with all my heart and soul , and I will forever miss her dearly. The drunk driver who took away my wife, the mother of my two children has been brought to justice, but that does not take away any of the pain. Life will never be the same in our house. We will no longer hear Isabella's laughter, see her beautiful smile, hear her lovely singing voice, feel her warm embraces, taste her wonderful cooking, or ever look into those gorgeous green eyes again. Catherine will never be able to have her mother help her pick out a wedding dress, Antonio won't have a mother to hate his girlfriends," Some gave a weak laugh at that. Antonio was confused, though. What was a girlfriend? "I will not be able to enjoy retirement or having grandchildren, because I will have no one to share it with. But Isabella is in a better place now, far, far away from this troubling world, with her mother and father, in Heaven. Isabella wouldn't want us to dwell on this, though. She'd want us all to move on and live our lives with a smile on our faces, like she did. I hope we all follow her example." Papa then stepped down and retook his seat next to Antonio and Catherine.

The priest stepped up again, and recited a few verse of the bible, and then everyone began to stand. Several men stepped up to the Alter, closed the box Mama slept in, and lifted the box. The men marched the box out of the church, Antonio and his family following behind. They put the box in the back of an odd black car; Antonio wondered if mama would be okay in the odd car. Papa drove behind the odd car, and a bunch of other people followed papa's car.

They stopped finally at a big field with wrought iron gates around it filled with big rocks with writing on them. Antonio could tell what the rocks said, but they must have been really special since a lot of them had flowers in front them. Everyone got out of their cars and walked over to a rock with a big hole in front of it. Everyone gathered around the hole, and the same men who had put the box in the odd car took it out again and brought it over to the hole. The priest stepped up, again. He started reciting bible verses, again. The men began to lower the box into the hole. Wait, what? They couldn't do that! Mama was in there; Antonio began to panic.

"Papa? What are they doing with Mama? They can't put Mama in the ground, Papa! Stop them!" Antonio begged as he tugged on his papa's suit leg. His papa looked down at him with an odd look…then started crying, again. Antonio continued to ask his papa what they were doing with Mama. Many people looked at the scene with sad expressions, but Antonio didn't understand why. Finally, his sister snapped, "She's dead, you idiot! Mama is dead! Now shut up!" Catherine cried through her own tears. She just couldn't take it any longer, she couldn't stand being there at the moment, let along hearing her baby brother plead to know what was happening to their mama.

Antonio went silent. He stopped tugging on his papa's pants leg and instead hugged his papa's leg tightly. He then started to cry. He wailed and sobbed; he did the one thing he could do.

Later, they went to the Golden eyed man's house, when they arrived, Papa introduced the Golden eyed man as his Godfather. Antonio, being the naturally curious boy he was, would have asked what a 'Godfather' was, but he just couldn't will himself to do anything but go sit in a corner quietly. No one dared approach him for the entire evening—except one girl.

"What are you doing?" The pouty girl from church asked. "Nothing." Antonio sniffled, not looking at the girl. "Don't ignore me." The pouty girl snapped. Antonio looked at the girl, a tad surprised at how fierce and irritable the little girl sounded, and was just a little bit pleased at what he saw. The pouty girl was now as red as a tomato with anger and, maybe, embarrassment. "You look like a tomato!" Antonio laughed joyfully. The pouty girl gasped in shock at his statement, then turned in redder. "No, I do not!" The girl shouted loudly. Antonio laughed some more. "Don't be embarrassed, I love tomatoes!" Antonio said with a smile. The pouty girl, to Antonio's amusement, became even redder. Before Antonio could make a comment, however, the girl ran away, once again leaving Antonio to himself.

"I hope to see you again, Mi Tomato!" Antonio shouted cheerfully at the girl's back as she ran out of the room. The girl growled angrily as she left; Antonio simply laughed some more.


	2. Chapter 2

Hetalia AU: Baby Stories

Story One: Antonio/Lovina

Chapter 2: The Reunion

Note: I own nothing.

**The Reunion**

**Fall**

Today was the funeral, Lovina, age 6, realized as she awakened. It wasn't like she was sad or anything. It's not like she had been close to her grandpa or anything. After her and her sister's parents had died (Their father of a heart attack, their mother in car accident caused by a deer jumping out in the middle of the road) a few years ago, they had been sent to live with their grandpa. However, things weren't great for Lovina in her grandfather's house. Grandpa never paid Lovina any attention and only ever spent time with Feliciana, which was a lot since Grandpa had long since retired from his job as a very famous war general; whatever that was, but Grandpa liked to brag about it. But grandpa would send Lovina to school instead, and spend all his time with Feliciana, and on weekends he's take both girls out with him to do things, but Feliciana required extra attention due to being only a small child, so she always monopolized Grandpa's time. Lovina was never given any attention, it seemed.

Grandpa had started getting old, though. So he spent all the time he could…with Felicia, not Lovina. Lovina could see why, Felicia was talented, even for four year old, and so sweet she could give you a cavity, and lovable to boot. Lovina couldn't stand it. Because she was just the opposite; Lovina was ill-tempered, clumsy, and...unlovable. At least, she thought so-but no one had ever corrected her, so it must be true!

But despite it all, Lovina had stood by her sister and hugged her close when one morning, Grandpa's at home nurse had gone into his room, put her fingers to his neck, and after a few moments, removed the pillow from under his head and covered his head with the bed sheet. She called the hospital, then told Lovina and Feliciana, "That your Grandpa is no longer with us, darlings." Feliciana, of course, did not quite understand, but Lovina did, so she explained, "Grandpa is dead, Feli."

Feli cried, and cried, but Lovina refused to. Lovina refused to cry over the man who had ignored her & had now abandoned her and her little sister. She would never let this happen to her, again, she promised herself. She would never let someone hurt her or her sister like this ever, again.

"Time to get ready, Lovina." Mrs. Capuano said through the door. She was a family friend who had taken in Lovina and Feli in the last few weeks until the matter of custody was read in Grandpa's will. Lovina shouted back that she would get ready and then did just that. She dressed a nice little black dress and fixed her long, dark hair back with headband. She looked quite nice, she thought as she looked at herself in the mirror. But of course, Feliciana would look better, most likely, Lovina conceded as she stepped out of her room and marched down stairs to meet Mrs. Capuano in the kitchen for breakfast.

Feliciana was already there, first at everything as always. Mrs. Capuano served pasta for breakfast, probably to help soften the hurt for both girls. Feli picked at her food half-heartedly, however, and Lovina blatantly, and probably rudely, said, "I'm not hungry." Mrs. Capuano didn't say a word, though, and once Feli said she was finished with her only half-eaten pasta, the elderly Italian woman escorted the girls out to an awaiting car, driven by Lovina and Feliciana's uncle-by-marriage, Mr. Bonnefoy. Their father's sister, their aunt, Mrs. Bonnefoy sat in the back of the car with them, along with her own children, Francis, age 10, and Maria, age 2. Their aunt gave them empathetic pats on the back, as the girls climbed into the car, and Francis was unusually quiet. Maria was fast asleep in her car seat in the very back seat next to her mother in the third row of seats in the back of the car, but she would have still been quiet if she had been awake, too. Maria was a very quiet girl.

They drove to funeral home in the country side that sat close to a cemetery. The service was full of tears and people giving their condolences, and there was a blonde man there that Lovina recognized as one of Grandpa's old friends from the 'Old days' as Grandpa called them, who had lunch with from time to time as well. The blond man had two little boys with him, one who looked a lot like him and about Feli's age, and one with odd white hair and red eyes that looked about Francis' age. Next to them was a woman that looked like the blond man a little, and a man with brown hair, and in between them was a boy with glasses who looked like a miniature of the brown haired man. The white haired boy kept making silly faces at him, but the boy hid behind his mother, who would reprimand the white haired boy with a strict, authoritive voice that if Lovina remembered right, was a lot like the blond man's in tone.

After the services were over, Grandpa's coffin was carried outside to his funeral plot, which was in between the grave of the grandmother they never met and the graves of their papa and mama. Lovina watched in silence as the burial prayer was read by the priest and her grandpa was buried next to the people he loved and the people Lovina had lost. She had no one left, she realized with finality as people began to leave back to their cars, leaving only Lovina and Feliciana.

"Hey, you okay, Mi Tomato?" Lovina blushed bright red and looked up to see a boy with olive skin, green eyes, and curly brown hair tilting his head at her curiously. "I-I'm fine—and don't call me that, bastard!" Lovina grumbled. Next to her, Feliciana gasped. "Sorella said a bad word!" Feliciana said, scandalized. "Like I care, Feli!" Lovina snapped at her little sister. Feliciana pouted, turning a little red herself. "I'm telling, Auntie!" Feliciana said loudly, then turned and ran back into the funeral home to look for their aunt.

"You shouldn't curse. My mama said never to curse, especially at special occasions." The boy said to her. Lovina huffed. "Well, why don't you go back to your mama or something." She said with her arms crossed over her chest. The boy went unusually quiet, and Lovina sensed the mood go very somber. "I can't, she's dead." The boy finally said. Lovina looked at the boy, suddenly feeling some empathy for the boy. "She died in a car accident four years ago," The empathy doubled. She, too, had lost her mother in a car accident. "She's buried over there," The boy pointed to a grave stone a few meters away. "I'm going to put this there for her." The boy said, lifting up the red carnation in his hand for her to see. "She loved carnations." Then the boy walked away, over to the grave he had pointed out earlier and set the carnation down before it. Lovina watched the boy for a long time as he just stood there before the grave, doing nothing but stare at it, it seemed.

A cold breeze blew, and Lovina shivered. It was about time to leave anyway, she thought as she turned away from the boy. However, she glanced back once more, this time at her grandpa's fresh grave. Lovina turned away, again, and walked away, tears pricking her eyes.


	3. Chapter 3

Hetalia AU: Baby Stories

Story One: Antonio/Lovina

Chapter 3: Guardianship

Note: I own nothing.

**Guardianship**

**Fall**

Lovina watched from her bedroom window in Mrs. Capuano's house as her bags were loaded into the back of the black SUV. According to Mrs. Capuano had told her that all her other clothes and furniture from Grandpa's house had already been moved to her new home. Today, Lovina would move in with her new guardians—The Carriedo family. They were friends of the family; apparently Grandpa and Mr. Carriedo's mother had been good friends. Mrs. Carriedo had been a nurse in the military around the time Grandpa was still in the military; Grandpa, according to the grapevine set her up with her future husband, while she set him up with the woman who would go on to become Lovina's grandmother. It was a sweet story, but that didn't ease Lovina's nerves about moving in with a family she's never met, not that she would admit it, though. She wasn't like Feli, who had kicked up a fit when she was taken to live with the Edelsteins and separated from her sorella the day before. However, Lovina would admit, she already missed her little sister.

Mrs. Capuano called Lovina outside, and Lovina hesitantly did so. Outside, Lovina met a familiar looking man who stood next to the SUV. He had olive skin, chocolate brown eyes, and curly black hair. Next to him was a girl about Francis' age with the same coloring as the man, but the only other feature they shared was a nose. The girl was helping load the SUV with Lovina's things, while the man stepped forward and stuck out a hand to Lovina. "Hello, I'm Miguel Cortez-Carriedo," He said as he shook Lovina's hand. "And this is my daughter, Catherine Fernandez-Carriedo." Mr. Carriedo said, gesturing to the girl. She turned to away from her work briefly to wave to Lovina, and then went back to loading the last of the bags. "I have a son a few years older than you at home. You'll meet him later, though. He's grounded and isn't allowed out of the house; he and your cousin Francis, along with a friend of theirs beat up some boy at school. The maid is watching him; you'll meet her as well." Mr. Carriedo rambled as he escorted Lovina over into the SUV. Catherine finished up and closed the trunk, then hopped into the front seat of the SUV, quickly. Mr. Carriedo climbed into the front seat and turned the ignition, starting the vehicle. From the window, he shouted goodbye to Mrs. Capuano, who Lovina had said her goodbyes to earlier. Lovina waved goodbye as the car pulled away from the house, actually kind of wishing that she could stay with Mrs. Capuano. But then she reminded herself, no one wants you, so you might as well leave now.

Lovina tried to remain quiet throughout the car ride, but Mr. Carriedo kept her far from it. "So, Lovina, what do you like to do?" He would ask a bunch of questions like that, and Lovina would answer them all as curtly as possible, giving no additional information or vagueness. "I like gardening, playing football (A/N: Soccer) and napping." Lovina said. "What's your favorite color? Maybe we can paint your room it if you like." "Pink. But, whatever color it is already is fine." "Do you like animals? We live in the country side, and our neighbors let Catherine and Antonio, my son, play with the chickens and baby animals sometimes." "I don't like animals, they stink and make messes." "Do you like school?" "Nope." "It would be odd if you did." The questions continued until finally, Mr. Carriedo pulled up into a long dirt driveway.

Lovina noticed that most of the property was clear pasture and rather than wood fencing and barbed wire like most of the other properties in the area, the Carriedo property was surrounded by brick walls, and the front gate was wrought iron. The house was surrounded by what seemed like miles of grape vine orchards, and in the distance, Lovina could make out a large building that looked like the pictures on Grandpa's wine bottles. The house, which was almost in the direct center of the property, was in a traditional Spanish style, and ivy covered some of the sides of the house like a natural, beautiful decoration. A stone fountain was outside the front of the house, but it was turned off due to the chilly weather, and the dirt drive way led into a circular area in the front of the house.

Mr. Carriedo pulled up to the house, and told Catherine and Lovina to hop out while he parked the car in the garage. Lovina asked about her things, but Mr. Carriedo said he would bring them up for her later for her. Lovina got out of the car and followed Catherine up to the front door, where the dark haired girl pulled out a set of keys from her pocket and unlocked the door and led Lovina inside. The inside of the house, as expected, was in a traditional Spanish style, from the architecture to the decorations to the music playing from the kitchen where Lovina suspected someone was cooking due to the smell of the house. "Mrs. Lopez! We're home!" Catherine yelled, her voice echoing slightly in the large home. "Oh, Ms. Catherine, you're back with the new arrival! How nice! Dinner is almost ready, I hope she brought along her appetite!" A woman, perhaps a few years older than Mr. Carriedo shouted as she poked her head outside the kitchen door down the hall from the foyer of the house. She smiled sweetly at Lovina at first, but it disappeared as she noticed something. "You, Ms. Vargas, I believe? You go up stairs and wash your face and change that shirt! You have tomato sauce smudged all over yourself." Mrs. Lopez shouted at Lovina. Lovina looked down at her shirt in surprise. Sure enough, though, there was a red stain on her shirt, a small one, but still a stain. She must have spilled some tomato sauce during lunch when Mrs. Capuano made her ravioli.

Embarrassed that her first impression had been ruined by a little tomato sauce, Lovina raced upstairs, not even bothering to ask where the bathroom was. She regretted it moments later when after checking three rooms, she still didn't know where the bathroom was. When she couldn't find it in the first hallway, or the second hallway of the second floor, Lovina headed up to the third floor of the house. She opened up two doors, both definitely not bathrooms, before opening the third.

It wasn't what she expected. Inside the third room a boy laid on his belly on the carpet, face down, groaning. Lovina watched with wide green eyes, wondering if the boy was hurt or sick or something. "Papa, I'm _bored~~!_ _Please _un-ground me, _please_! I promise I'll never beat up Roderick, again!" The boy whined. Lovina felt her eye brow twitch slightly. "I'm not your papa, bastard!" Lovina shouted. She clamped a hand over her mouth, realizing that she had just cursed when an adult was right down stairs; she prayed no one had heard and that the boy would not tattle.

The boy's head snapped up from the ground to look at the girl. To Lovina's shock, it was the boy from the cemetery. The boy smiled as he, too, remembered her. "Mi Tomato, why are you here!?" The boy asked excitedly. "Me, why are you here?" Lovina shrieked with a blush blooming on her cheeks at his stupid nickname for her. "Me? I live here! But why are you here—Oh! You must be Lovina Vargas!" The boy said excitedly, and then to Lovina's surprise, the older boy engulfed her in a tight hug. "I'm Antonio Fernandez-Carriedo! We're going to be living together, Mi Tomato!" Antonio exclaimed cheerfully. Lovina's blush increased ten-fold, before finally, she head-butted Antonio. "Don't hug me, bastard!"

**Winter**

Weeks passed, and soon Antonio and Lovina's antics became the norm. Mr. Carriedo simply smiled at the interactions and told them not to break anything, Catherine told them both to shut up and just stay out of her room, and Mrs. Lopez always seemed to have snacks at the ready to distract the two just incase their little arguments got to out of hand. Lovina learned a lot about Antonio, too. First off, he was nine years old and in fourth grade at H.P.S (Hetalia Primary School). Secondly, he loved animals, sunshine, football, tomatoes, and being carefree to the point of being annoying. He was also best friends with Lovina's cousin, Francis Bonnefoy, who had been held back last year because he missed a lot of school for being sick, and Gilbert Beilschmidt the white haired boy from Lovina's Grandpa's funeral. Antonio learned about Lovina, as well. First of all, she may have acted tougher than her sister, Feliciana, but apparently Lovina was the girly girl, and Feli was the tomboy. Second, Lovina loved tomatoes as much as Antonio did, if not more, and that Lovina loved romance/fairytale princess movies, secretly. Lastly, Lovina was the jealous type.

"I don't like her." Lovina stated bluntly as she and Antonio walked home from school together, Catherine walking just a bit ahead of them. "Who?" Antonio asked curiously. "That girl in the second grade who likes you." Lovina said. "Oh! Emma Wit, Lars' little sister? No, no. She doesn't have a crush, she's just a friend." Antonio insisted. "Yes, she does! I can tell!" Lovina snapped, a blush spreading over her cheeks. Antonio laughed, to her embarrassment. "Well, it doesn't matter. Girls are all icky anyways—OW!" Antonio groaned and clutched his stomach, having not anticipated the head-butt Lovina had just delivered. Ten year old Catherine laughed as Lovina huffed in indignation.

**Spring**

Lovina also learned that Antonio was a very oblivious person, as well as pretty bossy.

"Clean boss' room, Lovi." Antonio ordered as he reclined on the leather sofa and played video games. "No way, bastard!" Lovina shouted, no longer afraid of being punished for cursing. By now, the entire household was used to Lovina's foul mouth. "Do as boss says, Mi Tomato." Antonio insisted gently as he continued to play his video game. "No!" Lovina growled. "You can do it yourself or have Mrs. Lopez do it!" She asked, aggravated. "No, Mrs. Lopez said she won't clean my room for me anymore because I'm old enough to do it myself," Antonio replied nonchalantly. "Well, you are, bastard! I won't do it!" Lovina snapped. "I'll give you tomatoes~!" Antonio said in a sing-song voice. "I can get them myself~!" Lovina countered in the same tone. Then, Antonio smirked devilishly. "Well, I could always call Emma, or maybe your sister to do it. They would do a better job anyways, probably." He said in nonchalant tone. "No, I'll do it!" Lovina suddenly burst out. Antonio smirked even more as he watched Lovina flee the den to his room to clean it.

Lovina, Antonio learned, could be equally bossy.

"Make me a snack!" Lovina whined from where she laid on Antonio's bedroom floor, waiting for him to finish his homework so they could go out and ride bikes together like he promised. "No, I have to finish my homework." Antonio said as he tried to work out a particularly difficult problem. "Do it, bastard!" Lovina whined loudly, this time childishly kicking Antonio's chair leg. Antonio flinched as his chair almost tilted over, but quickly steadied himself back. When he was steady, he turned and glared down at Lovina. Lovina glared back with a slight pout. Antonio sighed heavily. "Fine, Mi Tomato." Antonio said, getting up and exiting the room with slumped shoulders. Lovina smugly followed.

Lovina, Antonio learned, had a soft side. Antonio, Lovina learned, had a dark side.

"Lovi, why are you crying?" Antonio asked softly. He had come into Lovina's room to ask if she had any markers for his school project, but instead he found Lovina curled up on her pink bedspread crying. He expected Lovina to curse him and tell him to go away, but instead she said something surprising. "H-he's so mean!" Lovina cried, jutting her arms out to hug Antonio close. "Who's mean? What did he do?" Antonio asked, partially out of curiosity, but mostly out of need to know who had been so mean his Lovi. Lovina sniffled a moment, then answered, "Adam Bach. He made me eat dirt after school today before I met you and Catherine at the gates." "The Adam Bach in my grade?" "Yeah." "I'll be back in a little bit, Lovina." Antonio left the room quickly and stomped angrily back to his room. When he entered the room, he locked the door behind him so no one would see what he was doing. He pulled out a box from under his bed into the middle of the floor, he cautiously looked back at the bedroom door, then lifted the lid. Inside, the box held several objects: a boy scout pocket knife, a sling shot, some gloves, and a few bottles of spray paint of various colors. Antonio grabbed the clothes, one of the spray paint cans, and the sling shot. He stuffed the gloves in his pants pockets, and hid the sling shot in the hem of his pants and covered it with his shirt. The spray paint can was tricky, but he managed to hide it with the help of a hoodie.

Antonio left the house, telling Mrs. Lopez that he was going to play with the chickens on Mr. Hampton's farm down the road. But Antonio didn't go to Mr. Hampton's. He walked right past Mr. Hampton's farm in fact, all the way down the side of the long dirt countryside roads until he hit suburbia. He walked past several houses, many looking exactly alike, until finally he found the Bach home. He had been there the year before for Adam's birthday party; Antonio had a feeling that after today he would not be invited to any more birthday parties.

Antonio laid in wait in the bushes until finally the sun began to set and the neighborhood became shrouded in dark shadows. Antonio stepped out of the bushes and into on the dark shadows on one side of a house across the street from the Bach home. Antonio took a rock he had picked up on the way there out of his pocket and aimed it with his sling shot. He released the rubber band of the sling shot, sending the rock right into one of the front windows of the Bach home. There was a crash and someone screamed inside. Quickly, Antonio took a few more rocks out of his pocket, and fired them into the windows of the Bach home. He didn't stop until every window was broken. Antonio heard police sirens in the distance and smirked. Antonio turned and ran down the street, turned a corner, and ran up to a big blue house with a clean cut lawn that had tow dogs sleeping on the porch. He knocked on the door, and waited politely for someone to answer.

"Hello?" Gilbert asked as he opened the front door. His eyes widened briefly when he saw it was Antonio, but then a smirk came to his face. "So you've been the one breaking windows. Should have known it was you. Did ya find out that Bach made your little Italian friend eat dirt this afternoon?" Gilbert said, opening the door wider for Antonio to come inside. The inside of the house was neat, clean-cut, but it still managed to feel like a home. The walls were decorated with photos of family and friends and memorabilia from Mr. Beilschmidt, Gilbert's grandfather's war days. But most photos were of Gilbert, Gilbert's brothers, cousins, father, aunts, and uncles, showing just how much Mr. Beilschmidt really loved his family, even if he didn't always say it aloud.

Gilbert led Antonio through the house, passing the den where Mr. Beilschmidt was reading, and passing the staircase where from upstairs you could hear at least two of Gilbert's older brothers, who were visiting for the up coming holidays, arguing over something—that, or playing video games. Gilbert led Antonio to the kitchen, got out three glasses, one for Antonio, one for Gilbert, and one for little Ludwig, who was also in the kitchen, reading one of the little children's books that Grandpa had recently bought him. "So, what's the paint for?" Gilbert asked, referring to the can sticking out of Antonio's hoodie pocket, as he poured them all some milk. Antonio smirked. "I'll tell you later. Can I use your phone?" "Go for it." Antonio called home and told his papa, who answered, that he was going to spend the night with Gilbert. His papa said it was okay, but only if Gilbert's grandpa agreed. "Well?" Antonio asked Gilbert briefly, covering the speaking end of the phone with his hand. "Grandfather! Can Antonio stay the night?" Gilbert yelled down the hall from the kitchen. There was a moment of silence in the house. "Fine! But you're not staying up past midnight like last time!" Mr. Beilschmidt yelled back.

Later that night, when the sun had finally set, and the police had left the neighborhood, Antonio and Gilbert made their move. "Grandfather, we going over to Francis' real quick to ask about our homework assignment!" Gilbert shouted as he and Antonio left the house. "Why didn't you do that earlier?" Mr. Beilschmidt asked as he entered the foyer, looking at the boys curiously (suspiciously). "Because we just remembered to." Gilbert replied. Mr. Beilschmidt sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Gilbert, Antonio, what ever you're up to, just please don't break anything." Mr. Beilschmidt said, turning away from the boys and heading up stairs. "Okay, we won't! Bye, Grandfather, we promise! Love you, bye!" Gilbert said quickly and gleefully as he and Antonio raced down the front steps of Gilbert's house.

The boys soon came to stand before the Bach home, with the windows now all boarded up with wood. Antonio and Gilbert smirked as Antonio uncapped the spray-paint can and shook the bottle. It took almost an hour, but eventually they were finished. The entire house was covered in swiggley lines and zigzags. Silly faces were drawn all over the place and Antonio was very proud of the tomato he painted right on the Bach family's front door. Satisfied, Antonio began to leave the scene, Gilbert, however, did not follow. "What's wrong, Gilbert?" Antonio asked. Gilbert's expression was blank as he said, "Dude, I just remembered, we really do have to ask Francis about a homework assignment."

The next day, Gilbert and Antonio were both grounded, since both their families were able to figure out within 0. 2 seconds of hearing what happened to the Bach home that they were the perpetrators, and Adam Bach avoided Antonio at all costs for weeks. But the best part was, Antonio would think later, was that Lovina was nice to him for a few weeks and said, "Thank you." to him for the first time.


	4. Chapter 4

Hetalia AU: Baby Stories

Story One: Antonio/Lovina

Chapter 4: Teenage Years, Part 1

Note: I own nothing.

Emma—Belgium

Lars—Netherlands

Tim—Luxemburg

Lovina's aunt—Francis' mother

Maria—Monaco

Jose—Seborga

Lovina's uncle and his wife—Jose's parents

Jeanne—Joan of Arc

**Teenage Years**

**Fall (Antonio-17; Junior, Lovina-14; 8****th**** grade)**

No one at his high school could understand Antonio's relationship with Lovina. They were so different. Antonio was popular and nice; Lovina was unpopular and grumpy. Antonio played sports; Lovina hated gym class. Antonio was best friends with Gilbert and Francis; Lovina had no real friends. Antonio had a girlfriend; Lovina detested everyone.

* * *

"Oh, poor, Lovina~!" Emma Wit said with woe as she and her boyfriend, Antonio, and his friends, watched Lovina eat lunch alone on the other end of the cafeteria. "She needs friends! The poor thing must be so lonely!" She said with distress. Antonio nodded. "Let's invite her over. I'm sure Lovi would like some company!" He suggested, and even started getting out of his seat, too, until Gilbert yanked him back down into his seat. "How bout we don't invite her over and say we did." Gilbert said, returning to his packed lunch of wurst, mashed potatoes, and root beer. Antonio looked at his friend with surprise. "But why? You know Lovina is my friend!" He protested. "Not according to her. Face it, Antonio, that girl is a fall of grumpiness and malice. She'd probably say no anyway." Gilbert stated matter-of-factly. Antonio glared at his silver-blond friend.

"She is not! Right, Francis?" Antonio protested, this time looking to his French friend for assistance. Francis remained quiet. "Are you kidding me? You're her cousin for God's sake!" Antonio said with indignation. "Antonio, mon ami, I have many cousins—Emma, in fact, is my cousin on my father's side—but blood does not always equal friendship. I will admit that she is a pretty girl and that I feel sorry for her, but I will not say that I want her sitting here. Sorry, Mon ami." Francis apologized, avoiding eye contact. Antonio huffed and stood from his seat with his tray of food; he looked down at Emma next to him and asked, "Would you like to come along?" Emma nodded, and together they walked over to Lovina's table with their trays and sat down across from her.

Lovina looked up from her tray and gave the Spaniard and the Belgian a quizzical look. "We thought we might sit with you today." Antonio said. Emma nodded her agreement. Lovina gave them a surprised look that quickly turned into a scrutinizing one. Antonio became afraid that she would become angry with him and Emma and send them away, proving Francis and Gilbert right.

"Okay, bastard." Lovina eventually said, returning to eating her food. Emma giggled at Lovina's words and also returned to eating. Antonio let out a sigh of relief, and sent his friends a victorious smirk from across the cafeteria, reveling in their shocked expressions.

Antonio and Emma ate lunch with Lovina everyday after that, and eventually, Gilbert and Francis joined them.

**Winter**

Antonio and Emma eventually broke up. They had been at a party; Lars, Emma's older brother, and Antonio had gotten into an argument. No one knew who threw the first punch, but in the end, Antonio was a bruised mess and Lars had to go get stitches on his forehead. Emma broke up with Antonio; family was more important, she had said, and Antonio understood. They decided, though, to remain friends.

Weeks passed, and with Antonio on market again, things were hectic for the young Spaniard. At lunch, girls tired to get him to sit with them. During class, they passed him notes. After school, while at football (scorrer) practice, they sat in the stands and watched and cheered for him. At home, it seemed he got six to ten phone calls a night from girls he didn't even know asking him out on dates, and Antonio being the nice guy he was, could never refuse. This all made Lovina very, very upset.

* * *

"They're all annoying! Why don't you say no once in awhile, bastard!" The young Italian griped as she lay sprawled on Antonio's bed as if she owned the place. Antonio was currently trying to pick which shirt to wear on his date. It would be his third date this weekend, and it was only Saturday afternoon. He had had an early morning brunch date with some girl from his math class, and a lunch date with a girl from his biology class. He was now getting ready for a movie date with a girl from his English class, and then he had two more dates later that day: a dinner date with another girl from his biology class, and a second dinner date with a girl he had had a date with earlier in week who was in his music class.

"You've been spending all your time going on dates, bastard!" Lovina complained. Antonio looked at Lovina in surprise. "Are you jealous, Lovina?" He asked. "Hell no!" Lovina replied testily, though her red hit blush indicated otherwise. "Oh, Lovi~! I'm sorry for ignoring you! How about this; next weekend, it'll just be me and you! Okay?" Antonio said with a bright smile, happy at the prospect of spending time with Lovina, who he considered one of his best friends. Lovina's blush deepened as she stammered, "W-what make you think I'd want to spend time with you, bastard!" Antonio beamed at her and raised an eyebrow, and asked "Is that a no?"

Lovina sighed heavily, still blushing bright red, mumbled, "No, it's not."

* * *

The next Saturday, Antonio took Lovina out for breakfast, then to the mall to go shopping. Lovina spent a month's allowance in less than a few hours; that girl was the biggest fashionista Antonio knew, for sure. Then they had lunch, Antonio took Lovina to see a movie, and they had dinner at her favorite bistro. On Sunday, they went to the park and played in the fresh snow together like they used to do as kids. They had snowball fights, built a snowman, built snow forts, and afterwards they had hot chocolate at a local dinner. They returned home cold and exhausted, but grinning and laughing as well.

Lovina couldn't have been happier—not that she would ever admit it.

* * *

"Who the Hell do you think you are?" One girl snapped at Lovina.

Lovina had just a moment ago enter the girl's locker room to change into her gym clothes. But almost as soon as she entered the room, she found her self cornered by several other girls.

"What are you talking about?" Lovina growled indignantly, though in truth she was quite frightened.

"You think you're so cool, going out on a date with Antonio, don't you?" Another girl said angrily. The other girls nodded in agreement with her statement.

Lovina, however, was taken aback. "I'm not dating that bastard!" Lovina shouted. "Stop lying, you b*tch! Everyone knows—Zia saw you!" One girl shouted back at Lovina angrily, indicating the girl next to her as Zia. "Listen, I'm not dating Antonio!" Lovina tried to clarify calmly, though these girls grated on her nerves. A few of the girls scoffed. "Well, duh! Antonio would never date a girl like you!" One girl said with scorn.

"What the F*** do you mean by that?" Lovina growled angrily. "That right there is what I mean, you bitch! You have a bad attitude, you have no friends, and you know what?" The girl asked with a cruel, twisted smile. "You have a fat a**, too!"

Lovina replied to the girl's statement with a slap across the face. The girls were all taken surprise by Lovina's action, but still managed to come back to their senses enough to attack Lovina.

The gum teacher came into the locker room several moments later to find Lovina and several other girls battered and bruised and still going at one another. She hauled them all off to the nurse and wrote them all up for detention.

Antonio, of course, had been livid. "I swear to God if they weren't girls I would f***ing slaughter them!" He had cursed on the drive home. Lovina didn't say a word the whole ride, however, infuriating Antonio further. "Lovina, why aren't you mad?" Antonio asked, annoyed that for once Lovina was mad at someone. Lovina shrugged her shoulders half heartedly, and Antonio let out a frustrated sigh. The rest of the drive was silent.

**Spring (Antonio-17, Lovina-15)**

After the incident with the girls in the locker room, Antonio adopted a policy with the girls he went out with: Lovina had to like them and they had to like Lovina. It narrowed down the number of dates Antonio had per week, of course; to the point that some times Antonio would go weeks without going on a date. His friends did not like this, to say the least.

"I can't believe you're letting that girl run your love life now! What the Hell is wrong with you?!" Gilbert ranted one day as the trio of friends was hanging out in the park. They were all sitting at/on a picnic table near the pond. Antonio, who had idly been feeding and cooing over the ducks, looked at his friend in surprise. "What do you mean? Lovi doesn't run my love life." He said in confusion. Francis shook his head at his friend. "You haven't had a date in months because of that little policy you adopted because of her. I mean, it would be understandable if she was your sister—the people you date have to like your family at least—but she isn't!" Gilbert continued, Francis nodding his agreement. Antonio looked at his friends as if they were speaking an alien language.

"Guys, Lovi is important to me; she's mi tomate. Her opinion matters to me." Antonio explained, and then returned to feeding the ducks quaking at his feet. Gilbert and Francis sighed and simply returned to their previous activities; Gilbert texting some mystery person that neither Antonio nor Francis knew, and Francis to checking out girls that passed by.

* * *

Lovina had never been popular at school. Frankly, she was sure, everyone hated her…except for Antonio, and maybe Emma. Everyday, Antonio and Emma would eat lunch with her, even though they weren't dating anymore and it probably felt weird to eat lunch together. Sure, Gilbert and Francis joined them, but they only did so because they were Antonio's friends.

Lovina had never been popular at school, but now, she was hated—by the girls at least. Antonio's new policy had basically made it impossible for any girl in school to date him, and they all blamed Lovina. Before, she was simply ignored and talked about occasionally behind her back. Now, her books were knocked out of hands in the halls, people broke into her locker and stole her stuff, and people dumped their lunches on her 'accidentally.' Girls openly called her names—awful names—and hated her. Lovina was a pariah.

Her only friend was Antonio, she knew, though she never said it aloud.

Lovina was thankful to have Antonio in her life. Yet, as they grew closer, Lovina felt more and more like she had to push him away. Because if she didn't, one day she'd get hurt, again. Lovina couldn't handle being hurt, again.

**Fall (Antonio-18; Senior, Lovina-15; Freshman)**

Months passed, and Antonio and Lovina's relationship changed. It became apparent to everyone in school, from students to teachers, to friends and enemies, that Lovina and Antonio had an almost sadomasochistic relationship.

Lovina yelled at and even hit Antonio, yet Antonio still showered her love and affection that everyone knew Lovina secretly enjoyed despite her constant protests, and that she sometimes—rarely—returned. Yet this all changed when Lovina had a growth spurt over the summer and they returned to school.

Lovina went from short and slightly chubby in the face, to average height and curvy in all the right places. She was also a budding fashionista, so her style and clothes ruled over all others in school. Lovina was like a blooming rose in a way.

* * *

"I don't like that guy." Antonio growled over lunch one day. Lovina looked at him with surprise and confusion. "I thought you loved everyone, bastard." Lovina commented sarcastically. "No, that would be Francis!" Gilbert had laughed obnoxiously at his own joke before being smacked by and getting into an argument with Francis. "I do not like that guy." Antonio repeated, glaring at boy a few tables away who was staring at Lovina, not that she noticed. "Why, bastard? What did he ever do to you?" Lovina asked nonchalantly. "I just don't like him, okay." Antonio said, a somewhat irritated tone in his voice.

Lovina shrugged off the bastard's behavior, finished her lunch, and when the bell rang, left for her gym class.

"Hey, Lovina?" Lovina halted her steps and turned around to see the boy from lunch behind her. He approached her smiling. "I'm Lorenzo Soprano." He introduced himself as. "Hello, Lorenzo. What do you want?" Lovina asked curtly, wanting to get the chit chat over with. Lorenzo let out a somewhat nervous laugh and explained, "I'm in your homeroom and biology classes; I've noticed you around and I really like you." Lovina looked at the Italian boy with surprise. "You like me?" She asked unbelievingly. Lorenzo nodded his head and continued, "You're really pretty and fiery. I like that in a girl; so I was wondering, do you want to go to a movie with me?"

He and Lovina went on six dates in the following three weeks, and Antonio hated it.

* * *

"You're going out with that guy, _again?_" Antonio asked, flabbergasted. Lovina and he were currently in the living room of Carriedo home. Lovina was dressed up nicely in a cute blue sundress, black tights and flats, and she wore a blue headband. Antonio was in his PJs—basically his boxers and a t-shirt—on the other hand. It was almost 8 o'clock and it was already dark; far too late for Lovina to be going on a date in Antonio's opinion.

"Yes, you bastard. Lorenzo is taking me to a movie and pizza." Lovina snapped as she organized her purse. "But it's late!" Antonio protested. "So what? It's Saturday night." Lovina shot back. "Does Papa know about this?" Antonio asked. "Yeah, he does, idiota! And so do Cathy, Feli, Emma, and Elizabeta!" Lovina said, irritation plain in her voice. "Why didn't you tell me?" Antonio asked, shocked that he hadn't been told as well. "Because it's none of your business!" Lovina said. "So I suppose it's Cathy, Feli, and everyone's business, too, right?" Antonio asked sarcastically.

"Feli is my sister, Cathy helped me pick my outfit, and Emma and Elizabeta are my friends!" Lovina said angrily. "Where does that leave me then?" Antonio asked. "No where! You're just that bastard that lives in the same house as me!" Lovina shouted.

Antonio gasped at Lovina's words and than stomped up stairs angrily. Lovina growled and was about to follow him and tell him off for being such an intrusive crybaby, but a car honked outside. Lorenzo's mom was there to pick her up. Lovina stomped out of the house and slammed the door behind her as she left, but not before yelling clear and loudly up the staircase, "Don't wait up, bastard!" Antonio went to bed that night, heeding Lovina's words about not waiting up for her. But not before calling up every girl who had ever tried asking him out in the last few months and telling them he was dropping his Lovina Approval policy.

* * *

The next following months, Lovina and Antonio grew apart. Antonio was again busy with constant dates, and Lovina and Lorenzo were practically attached at the hip. Gilbert and Francis were ecstatic to have Antonio back in the game, and no longer was Lovina bullied by other girls. All seemed well...until you took a closer look at what hapened when it was just Antonio and Lovina.

* * *

"Papa, please pass the salt?" Antonio asked over dinner. "Why not ask Lovina, she's closer." Mr. Carriedo said. It was true. Mr. Carriedo was at the head of the table, Cathy sitting to his right, then Lovina, and Antonio at the other end of the table, with two seats on the left side of the table separating father and son. The salt was in the middle of the table, farther from Mr. Carriedo's reach than it was from Lovina's.

"I'd rather not." Antonio answered. "Antonio, please talk to Lovina." Mr. Carriedo begged, knowing that Antonio and Lovina had been having problems. "Whatever, here, Antonio." Cathy sighed, grabbing the salt, getting up from her chair and handing it to Antonio. "Thanks, sis." Antonio said happily. No one noticed Lovina stab at her food rather angrily.

* * *

"You are so lucky I buy really high grade concealer, Lovina." Cathy said as she applied the makeup to Lovina's neck. "Lorenzo is pretty hot blooded, I can imagine." She laughed, causing Lovina to blush red like the tomatoes she loved. "W-well, yeah…I suppose he is." Lovina stammered, avoiding eye contact with Cathy. Neither girl noticed Antonio peaking in through the crack in the door, his fists clenching so lightly that his knuckles went white and his nails broke the skin of his palms.

**Winter**

Around Valentine's Day, Lorenzo and Lovina suddenly broke up. "Why did you break up?" Feli, age 12, asked her sister. Feli and Elizabeta had decided to visit Lovina at the Carriedo home to comfort the young Italian female post-break up. Lovina sniffled as she wiped away her tears with yet another tissue. "I—I wouldn't put out." Lovina explained. She was a good Catholic girl, despite her language, and she had enough self-respect not to do something with Lorenzo just because he threatened to break up with her. Turned out it was more than a threat.

So now Lovina was crying her eyes out over Lorenzo, who she hoped would burn in Hell. Elizabeta and Feli patted her on the back and comforted her, both promising to corner him later and beat the sh*t out of him. Lovina thanked God for blessing her with a somewhat air-headed tomboy for a sister and a bad*ss maid for a friend.

"Hey, Lovina?" Lovina looked up from her crying to her bedroom door. In the doorway stood Antonio, still clad in his school uniform, a gleeful grin on his face. The blood on his knuckled caught Lovina's eyes. "Me, Gilbert, and Francis just beat the crap out of Lorenzo!" He said cheerfully. The girls gaped at him.

"Why, bastard?!" Lovina shouted angrily. Antonio was taken aback in shock. "B-But I though you would be happy!" He defended. "You beat up my ex-boyfriend—which first of all doesn't even concern you—and you don't even know why we broke up, you idiota! For all you know, I broke up with him, bastard!" Lovina yelled, standing up from her bed angrily. Antonio's face was blank with confusion. "So~, _you _broke up with _him?_" He asked. "No, bastard! That bastard broke up with me!" Lovina yelled. "Oh," Antonio said happily, "So it's okay!" "No it's not okay, you bastard! You can't just go around beating up people without good reason!" Lovina shouted, punching Antonio in the stomach.

Antonio fell to the ground, and groaned, "But I had a good reason!"

"Yes, but you didn't even know for sure that you had a good reason up until a few minutes ago!" Lovina shouted.

"But, Lovi~! I was doing it for you!" Antonio whined.

"That doesn't matter, bastard! You have to learn to ask question first before you go around beating up guys in my name!" Lovina protested.

"Oh, okay, Lovi~! Oh, look, your face is all red like a tomato, Mi Tomato!" Antonio cooed. "Shut up, bastard!" Lovina shouted, her blush increasing.

Feliciana and Elizabeta watched the scene with happy smiles. Things were finally back to normal.

Lovina and Antonio spent Valentine's Day together, Antonio having canceled all his dates for the next few weeks. After hearing about what had happened to Lorenzo, many guys who had like Lovina, backed off. Antonio readopted his Lovina Approval policy, causing Lovina to be bullied and hated again, but she didn't mind as much.

Antonio spent more time studying for finals with his friends and sending college applications in. Lovina spent her time being tutored by Emma, since she wasn't doing as well as she should in school. So Lovina and Antonio weren't able to spend much time together most of the week.

But on weekends, they made up for lost time.

Antonio took Lovina out to the movies and shopping, as she was a budding fashionista, and then they would go out to eat, usually. Other times, they would go to the park and play in the snow or go ice-skating. Sometimes, they just stayed home and studied together, or watched old movies together.

Everything was as it should be…at least Antonio thought so.

**Spring (Antonio-18; Senior, Lovina-16; Freshman)**

All good things must come to an end, of course. Finals came and went. Applications were sent and letters arrived. Graduation came around and with it, Antonio's acceptance letter from U.N. University. He had been accepted on a scholarship. U.N.U was a school local to their area; it was in the city and a lot of kids from the three local public schools went there. It was big and offered just about everything for anybody. It was a nice place and was perfect for Antonio.

But not for Lovina. She was only a freshman and was stuck living with Mr. Carriedo until she's 18. She was going to stay a high school student for three more years, and for three more years she would live in the same house, in the same room. Everything would remain the same as it had ever been in her life…with the exception of Antonio. Antonio would never again be seen in his blue school uniform in the halls of their high school, he would never eat lunch with her, and he would no longer live in the same house as Lovina. No more bickering over dinner, no ordering each other around to do one another's chores, and no more gardening together in the backyard; Antonio's room on the third floor would sit empty, red walls blank of posters and photos, bed stripped on blankets and pillows, and the closet empty of clothing.

Antonio was leaving, and soon.


	5. Chapter 5

Hetalia AU: Baby Stories

Story One: Antonio/Lovina

Chapter 5: Teenage Years, Part 2

Note: I own nothing.

Emma—Belgium

Lars—Netherlands

Tim—Luxemburg

Lovina's aunt—Francis' mother

Maria—Monaco

Jose—Seborga

Lovina's uncle and his wife—Jose's parents

Jeanne—Joan of Arc

**Summer (Antonio-19, Lovina-16)**

Lovina didn't really _hate _work; she just didn't like _hard_ work. Like doing homework for six different classes, cleaning her—messy—room, heavy lifting—actually, especially heavy lifting, Lovina thought as she held one end of the green couch while Antonio held the other. They—meaning the Carriedo family, Lovina, Gilbert, and Francis—were moving furniture into Antonio's new apartment just a few blocks from U.N.U. It was small—one small bedroom, one bathroom, a small kitchen, and a small living room area, and a, you guessed it, small terrace—and offered little storage space, and the style of the place was dated. Like, 1970s' dated; as in the place had orange carpet, old appliances, and some God awful fixtures. But it was livable and cheap, so Antonio decided to—was forced by his dad to—settle for it.

Finally, though, they managed to move in everything. Everything was pretty tightly compacted and nothing seemed to match, but at least the—God awful—job was done.

They celebrated with drinks.

"B-But Papa, I'm only 19!" Antonio said in surprise when his father handed him a cold beer. "I was a teenager once, too, Antonio. I went to parties, and I know exactly what happened at them. So drink up and enjoy it, because this is the only time until you're 21 that you are ever going to be able to drink alcohol in front of me without getting put over my knee." Mr. Carriedo said with a wink. All around the living room, beers were being opened and slurped. Cathy herself, age 20, who Lovina had never taken as the drinking type, was pretty much chugging down her beer down like a champ. "I don't like parties" my *ss, Lovina thought.

Suddenly, though, she felt something cold being placed in her hands. She was shocked to find a beer in her hand, also. "But…I'm…I-I'm only…?" Lovina looked at the beer and Mr. Carriedo with confusion. Mr. Carriedo smiled and said, "Just this once, okay? But remember, only one and only this once." Lovina nodded and, almost shyly, opened the beer. Mr. Carriedo didn't drink, being the safe driver.

Tentatively, Lovina sipped from the beer can. Her first reaction: "Ew!" The others either looked at her with shock or amusement. "It tastes like dirty socks or something!" Lovina complained, getting up and going into the kitchen. The sound of liquid running down the drain hit everyone's ears a moment later. "Hey! Don't just throw away perfectly good beer!" Gilbert shouted in horror, getting up and running into the kitchen to stop the atrocity.

"I'm not throwing it away! I'm pouring it down the drain!" Lovina shouted. "Don't do that! Pour it down my throat, not the drain!" Gilbert shouted. Everyone in the living room listening to this fiasco laughed.

* * *

"I can't believe you failed your driving test, again!" Gilbert laughed. Lovina, who, yes, had just failed her driving test for the third time, had come to Antonio's apartment, hoping to escape Mr. Carriedo's driving lectures. Instead she found Gilbert and Francis drinking on the couch, while Antonio was down stairs doing laundry. Yeah, Antonio, they're _great_ friends, Lovina thought sarcastically.

"It's not my fault that the administrator is a total *ss!" Lovina spat in anger. "Oh, Lovina, we are just playing!" Francis said. Lovina stuck her tongue out at him childishly. She stomped out of the apartment, leaving the two, laughing drunken teens behind her in the apartment. She slammed the apartment door behind her as she left and stomped down three flights of stairs, dialing the number of a taxi service as she did.

"Watch where you're going, bas—" Lovina began when she bumped into someone at the bottom of the stair well. "Lovi?" She stopped short of her self, though, when she heard Antonio's voice. She looked up from her cell phone to see Antonio, holding a basket of clean clothes. "Oh, it's just you, bastard." Lovina corrected.

"What are you doing here, Lovi?" Antonio asked curiously. "Uh…well…nothing, bastard!" Lovina answered, a blush spreading on her cheeks. Antonio raised an eyebrow at her. "Coming to my apartment for no reason…that doesn't sound like you, Lovi…" Antonio said, clearly not believing the young Italian. Lovina pouted and said, "You don't know me very well, then." Antonio laughed, of course, but Lovina just huffed and brushed past the Spaniard, continuing her way out.

"Hey, Lovi, where are you going, Mi Tomato?" Antonio asked, surprised that Lovina just brushing him off. Though by now, he probably shouldn't be. "To study for my driving tests, _again!_" She answered testily, not even sparing a look over her shoulder. "You failed it, _again?_" Antonio asked disbelievingly. Lovina didn't say yes, but she didn't say no either. "You know," Antonio called after her retreating form. "I could help you out!" Lovina halted her steps and looked back at Antonio with blushing face. "Really, bastard?" She asked warily. Antonio nodded happily. "Of course, Lovi! I'd love to help you!"

So Lovina and Antonio arranged for Antonio to pick Lovina up later in the week at the Carriedo Estate, and take her on a driving lesson.

* * *

It was a disaster.

First off, because Antonio wasn't such a good driver his self.

"You totaled my car!" Lovina screeched to the heavens in horror. Just a few moments before, Antonio had been in the driver's seat of Lovina's brand new red Camry, trying—the key word here is _trying_—to demonstrate parallel parking to Lovina, who had been in the passenger seat beside him. Sadly, Antonio had ended up backing into a produce stand. It had been set up near the edge of the road, and somehow, Antonio had backed into it, knocking over two crates of oranges in the process, sending them into on coming traffic. Orange pulp, peeling, and juices was smearing all over the road, and some more careful drivers were driving very slowly—causing a traffic jam—to avoid the oranges.

"It's not totaled; it's just a dent in the bumper. Trust me, I've gotten a million of those and they're easy to fix." Antonio said. Lovina glared at him like he was the scum of the earth and clenched her fists very tightly. Oh, Antonio was going to pay for this, she swore internally.

They avoided having the police called, thankfully, by buying enough fruit from the stand's owner to cover the damages, and then quickly fled the scene to take their lesson elsewhere.

The second reason that the lesson was a disaster was, not surprisingly, Lovina's poor driving skills.

"L-Lovina, slow down!" Antonio urged as they practically barreled down the road. "But the speed limit says 70!" Lovina objected, nervousness plain in her voice. "Yes, the speed _limit_! You don't have to go that speed constantly!" Antonio shouted in panic and a white knuckled grip on the dash board to brace his self. Almost immediately, causing Antonio to jerk in his seat slightly, the car slowed down. Looking at the speedometer, Antonio saw that they were only going 35 mph. "Lovina, now you have to speed up!" Antonio said. "But you said to slow down!" Lovina said with clearly irritation with this whole situation. "Yeah, but going too slow is dangerous too, Lovi!" Antonio explained.

Antonio was jerked back against his seat, again, as Lovina was suddenly hurdling down the road, again.

* * *

It took Lovina several weeks, but eventually, Lovina did get her license. To celebrate, Antonio took her out to eat at her favorite pizza place.

"Cheers to you, Mi Tomato! Congrats on passing your test, _finally!_" Antonio cheered, with a mellow dramatic sigh of relief at the end. "Honestly, I thought I was going die in that car!" Antonio admitted. "So did I, Antonio. So did I." Lovina agreed as she eagerly devoured her pizza. "Uh, excuse me, Lovi! I have…business to attend to." Antonio said, getting up from his seat and heading towards the men's room. Lovina simply waved him off and continued on eating her pizza.

"Um, excuse me?" Lovina looked up from her pizza to see a boy she recognized from school. "Yes?" She asked curtly, wanting to get back to her pizza as soon as possible. "Well, I was just wondering, was that dude who just went to the bathroom your boyfriend?" The boy asked shyly. "Hell no!" Lovina automatically responded. The boy's expression suddenly brightened and he asked, "Than would you mind giving me your number?"

**Fall (Antonio-19; Freshman(college), Lovina-16; Sophomore (high school))**

With Antonio not there anymore, not only had girls moved on and finally stopped bullying Lovina, but it was also open season on Lovina. Not so much that every guy in school wanted her, but it was certainly a lot of attention to Lovina, who had only had one boyfriend before.

Lovina deserved the attention, though. She was not only beautiful, with long, thick, dark hair, and beautiful green eyes, and lovely olive skin, but she was different from all the other girls in her school. She was fiery, but also shy in some ways; tough, but still girly; grumpy, but not a total b*tch. Sure, Elizabeta Hedervary, who had graduated along with Antonio and his friends, had been a tough, spunky tomboy, with a slightly perverted and domestic side. And Natalya Braginski, a girl three years Lovina's junior, was known to be temperamental as well, but she was creepy on so many levels and really scary so people avoided her. Lovina was different—in good ways and bad ways—and the guys loved it.

Lovina loved that she was finally getting some attention from people—positive attention! She really did, but still, sometimes she didn't like it so much. Sometimes, she wanted someone else's attention, she just didn't know whose.

Antonio was finally free, it seemed. No more Papa or maid to tell him what to do, no more Cathy nagging him and calling him a stupid kid, and no more Lovina to look out for. Sure, Antonio had a job at the campus café and he had classes during most of the week. But all the time in between work and school was his freedom. He went to parties with Francis, who was attending culinary school, he pen pal-ed with Gilbert, who was off at training since he joined the military, and Antonio flirted a lot, too.

* * *

In the course of his first two months of college, he had more dates and got more phone numbers than ever before. Sometimes he would get a few numbers from his customers at work, at parties, and even in the middle of class. His date book was filled with the names and numbers of various girls, and Antonio was never short of dates. If he felt like going out and Francis was busy, he would just call up a girl. He wanted to see a movie and didn't want to go alone; call up a girl. He wanted a study buddy; call up a girl. He was in the mood; call up a girl.

It was just that simple, and it was great, really, but Antonio always felt like something or someone was missing.

**Winter**

"So where have you been, stranger?" Mr. Carriedo greeted his son when Antonio entered the Carriedo Estate the first day of winter break. Antonio laughed nervously and answered, "Around, you know. School…and work…and…school…" Antonio trailed off guiltily. Mr. Carriedo patted his son on the back as he the lead the boy into the living room. "I was also a college student," He whispered into his son's ear. "And I know exactly how it is there, too." He concluded. Mr. Carriedo laughed as Antonio blushed bright red. "Haha, now who's the tomato, my son?" Mr. Carriedo teased. Antonio, despite his embarrassment, joined his papa in laughing.

"Welcome home, baby bro~!" Cathy greeted with a slur, obviously having been drinking. Honestly, what was up with that girl lately, Antonio asked his self, she was drunk or drinking all the time it seemed. But then again, she had just turned twenty-one, so he shrugged it off and instead unloaded on the coach, next to the drunk, uncharacteristically giggling Cathy. "So what have I missed?" Antonio asked. "Well," Mr. Carriedo began, taking a seat in his favorite armchair. "Cathy and that Kirkland boy finally broke up, thank god. The family business is expanding into jams and jellies. Um, oh, the house is going to be repainted soon; I was thinking red. Lovina and Michael broke up—" "Who's Michael?" Antonio asked. "Lovi's~ boyfriend~!" Cathy slurred out in a sing song voice. "_Ex_-boyfriend, Cathy." Mr. Carriedo corrected, though Cathy seemed to be off in her own little world again. "But who is he and why were he and Lovina going out?" Antonio insisted, clearly shocked by this new information.

"Relax, Antonio. He's a boy from school, and he and Lovina only went on a few dates. It was nothing, really! Just two kids going on some harmless movie dates." Mr. Carriedo explained, trying to calm his son. "Papa, you were a teenager once, too, remember. You_ know_ what really happens on a 'harmless' movie date." Antonio insisted seriously. "Don't worry, Antonio. I trust, Lovina—as you should too—to not doing anything that she'll regret later." Mr. Carriedo said. "But, papa—" "No 'but's." Mr. Carriedo interrupted. "You will trust my judgment on this, Antonio. Beside, they've broken up." Mr. Carriedo continued. Antonio sighed and gave up.

He may have been out of the house, but papa still knew how to keep his boy in line.

* * *

Later that night, Lovina arrived home from a dinner date; which Antonio was not happy to learn about, by the way. "Oh, hey, Antonio. What's up?" Lovina greeted unusually cheerfully when she entered the kitchen to find Antonio slicing vegetables for dinner. Too happy for Antonio's taste. "Nothing much. What have you been up to, Lovina?" Antonio said, his voice carrying underlying tones of suspicion. "Nothing much, either." Lovina answered, giving Antonio a raised eyebrow.

"Anything new at school?" Antonio pressed. "Nope." Lovina answered. "Any…_boys?_" Antonio asked. Several moments passed before Lovina answered, "I did go out with this one guy, but we broke up, okay bastard. It's none of your business anyway!" Lovina snapped, and then she stomped out of the kitchen and up stairs to her room.

Antonio chomped the rest of the vegetable angrily, shouting obscenities when he cut his hands, and receiving glares in turn from the family maid.

* * *

Winter Break was a rather turbulent time in the Carriedo home. Antonio and Lovina bickered endlessly over everything from who got the last pancake at breakfast to who Lovina went out with. Antonio seemed to hover over Lovina constantly, telling her what to do and giving his unasked for two cents on everything she did, while Lovina refused to listen and avoided Antonio like the plague, spending as much time outside the house as possible with her friends or on dates.

By New Years, both Lovina was happy to see Antonio return to his apartment in the city and once again have his schedule dominated by work and school and social activities, and Antonio was happy to be back to his own life where he didn't have to see or hear about Lovina's social life with _boys. _

Yet, both felt regret by the end of for some reason.

**Spring** **(Antonio-19, Lovina-17)**

Spring came, and with it, Spring Break. Antonio packed up for two weeks of fun in the sun on the coast with his best bud, Francis, Francis' girlfriend, Jeanne, and a few other friends from school. Two weeks of no school and no work, and all alcohol they—minus Jeanne, who refused to drink under-aged—could drink and a lot of other wild stuff.

Antonio spent hours on the beach and board walk just talking to random people from all over, drinking beer out of red plastic cups, flashing his fake ID to get into clubs, and half the time waking up in the strangest places and positions ever. The bands were awesome, as Gilbert would have said if he had been there, the people were cool, and the food was divine, as Francis described it. It was the most perfect Spring Break ever…until, a certain incident.

Antonio returned from Spring Break along with Francis and the rest of his friends. Jeanne returned in a coffin.

* * *

With a few days left over in his spring break, and his spirit down due to Jeanne's tragic passing, Antonio spent the last of his spring break at home, as in his family's home, Carriedo Estate. Antonio expected to stay home with his father and Lovina—Cathy was away for spring break still—and just hang out together. He was mistaken.

"What do you mean you're leaving?" Antonio asked in shock. "I mean I'm going on a business trip, Antonio. To Cuba, to check in on the cigar manufacturing branch of the business. Your aunt seems to be having some trouble and wants me to come and see if I can lend a hand. I'll be gone about a week." Mr. Carriedo explained as he packed his luggage. "But—" "There are two two-hundred dollar bills in the vase on the living room mantle for food and emergencies." "But—" "Mrs. Lopez will come and check in one you every once in awhile to make sure you aren't dying or something." "But—" "But what, Antonio? What else is there to cover?" Mr. Carriedo asked exasperatedly.

"But what about Lovina?" Antonio asked. "Oh," Mr. Carriedo said. "You'll be watching her, of course." He stated matter-of-factly. "What?!" Antonio asked in shock. "What? Why not?" Mr. Carriedo asked. "But I can't watch, Lovina!" Antonio protested. "And why not?" Mr. Carriedo asked, speculative of why his son would be protesting to such a simple task. "She's 17! She's too old for a babysitter!" Antonio protested. "I would have thought that you thought otherwise, considering how you acted on winter break." Mr. Carriedo pointed out smugly.

Antonio's shoulders sagged and his mood dampened. "Oh, come on, I wasn't that bad, Papa." Antonio whined. "Yes you were." Mr. Carried stated matter-of-factly. Mr. Carriedo laughed as he watched his son mope and pout like some sort of kicked puppy.

* * *

"Goodbye, Mr. Carriedo! Be safe!" Lovina called as Mr. Carriedo's taxi pulled drove off the next day. She and Antonio waved goodbye, as Mr. Carriedo leaned his head out the window, waving back. They didn't cease their waving until the taxi disappeared beyond the gates that surrounded the Carriedo estate & vineyard.

"So what should we do while papa is gone, Lovi?" Antonio asked as he and she returned to the inside of the house. "_We_ are doing nothing. I have a date in two hours and I have to get ready." Lovina answered, racing up the stairs to her room. She didn't even spare Antonio a glance. "But, Lovina, I'm supposed to be watching you!" Antonio called after her as he too raced up the stairs. "I'm 17! I don't need a sitter, bastard!" Lovina shouted. Antonio followed her to her room, only to find the door locked. Sighing in defeat, Antonio returned to the living room and watched some bad Spanish soap operas.

* * *

Two hours later, a car horn honked outside, and Lovina raced back down the stairs, her hair and makeup done up very nicely, and wearing a pretty pick dress and black heels. When she was outside, Antonio bolted from his seat and over to the window. He peaked through the blinds to see a dark green car in the driveway. The passenger side door was opened from inside and Lovina climbed in, smiling. Antonio felt a pang of jealousy for some reason, he could not explain.

All week, Lovina was in and out of the house. Sometimes on dates, other times just going out with friends, and on rare occasions, by her self. It seemed, without Antonio, Lovina's social life had flourished. When he had lived here and had still been in the same school as Lovina, he had been one of her few friends, and possibly the person she spent the most time with outside of school. But now, she seemed to have a never ending list of friends and suitors, and, according to few and far apart conversations he had had with her, Lovina had joined the volley ball team and the gardening club at school.

Lovina had gained friends and had become more accepted without Antonio.

Lovina had flourished without Antonio.

Lovina seemed much happier without Antonio.

When spring break ended and Mr. Carriedo returned from his trip, Antonio left the Carriedo house, promising never to hold Lovina back from happiness ever again.

* * *

"That bastard!" Lovina cursed, tears in her eyes. She slammed her bedroom door behind her and collapsed to her bed in sobbing tears. Today had been her birthday, and a few weeks since she last saw or heard from Antonio.

She had woken up this morning to Mr. Carriedo and the maid, Mrs. Lopez, yelling, "Happy Birthday!" Mrs. Lopez had made Lovina her favorite breakfast and then Mr. Carriedo had given her, her present: two $50 gift cards to her two favorite stores.

Later, all her friends had come over for a big party in the backyard. The vineyard had been a great vista for the party, and the food and music was great. Feliciana and the rest of Lovina's family—her aunt, Francis, Maria, Jose, her uncle, and his wife—had come, too. Lovina had a great time and had gotten everything she wanted and more, but something was missing. Not something, really, but someone: Antonio.

The bastard hadn't showed up, or even called, or sent a card, or anything. The bastard forgotten her birthday, Lovina thought with anger when by midnight, Antonio still hadn't contacted her in anyway. I hate him, Lovina thought as she cried. I hate him, like he hates me, she thought, continuing to cry into her pillow until she finally fell asleep.

* * *

"Antonio, you better have a good explanation for not coming to Lovina's party!" Mr. Carriedo said angrily into the phone. Antonio, who had been asleep in bed, groaned and answered, groggily, "Lovina didn't want me to come." "Like Hell, she sent you an invite didn't she?" Mr. Carriedo snapped, wondering what in the world was wrong with his son. "Yeah, she did. But Lovina doesn't even like me." Antonio responded. Mr. Carriedo was shocked by his son's words.

"Where would you get that idea, Antonio?" Mr. Carriedo asked. "It's pretty clear, isn't it? Lovina's happier when I'm not around. Papa, I'm tired. Talk to you later, bye!" Antonio said with a yawn at the end. Before Mr. Carriedo could ask his son why he though this, Antonio hang up and all there was only the dial tone. Mr. Carriedo tried to call his son, again; no answer. Then again; no answer. Antonio either was ignoring him or was asleep, Mr. Carriedo conceded, hanging up the phone on the receiver.

Mr. Carriedo went to bed that night, wondering what his son could possibly be thinking, and listening to Lovina's sobs a few doors down the hall from his room.

* * *

Antonio didn't go to sleep after his hang up on his dad, nor did he bother to answer the phone when it rang moments later. Antonio stayed awake all night, racked with guilt, as he had been all day, from missing Lovina's party. But it was better this way, he rationalized. She probably had way more fun without you, Antonio, he told himself.

It didn't matter, though. Antonio still hated himself a little.


	6. Chapter 6

Hetalia AU: Baby Stories

Story One: Antonio/Lovina

Chapter 6: Teenage Years, Part 3

Note: I own nothing.

Emma—Belgium

Lars—Netherlands

Tim—Luxemburg

Lovina's aunt—Francis' mother

Maria—Monaco

Jose—Seborga

Lovina's uncle and his wife—Jose's parents

Jeanne—Joan of Arc-Deceased, age 19

**Summer (Antonio-20, Lovina-17)**

Antonio was off from school for several weeks, Francis was done mourning Jeanne—at least he said he was—and Gilbert was back from his training and was on leave for a few weeks. It was time for the trio to party once, again!

At least, it was until Gilbert dropped a bomb on everyone. "I sort of, kind of, got married." He had explained sheepishly over drinks at the campus bar—they, minus Francis, had flashed their fake IDs to get in—when a girl had suddenly come in, waltzed over to their booth, and kissed Gilbert full-on on the lips. His wife—wow, that took some getting used to, Antonio thought—had pretty much dragged him away, saying something about having to go shopping, house hunting, etc, etc. So Gilbert was out of the equation, again, and it was just Antonio and Francis, again.

Until Francis dropped a bomb of his own. "I'm being forced by my mother to go visit my father and step-mother at their villa on the coast with my little sister, Maria. My deepest apologies, mon ami." He had explained when Antonio had come into his apartment to find him packing bags. And then there was one, Antonio had thought bitterly.

It was just him, all alone for the summer—or at least most of it. Most of his school friends were either heading home to see their families, or staying behind. But the only people Antonio knew pretty well, and who were still in town and not busy were Roderick and Elizabeta. But they were a boring old married couple now and didn't like him much anyway. So here Antonio was with no choice but to spend his summer with his family.

And thus, with Lovina, too.

* * *

"Now, I don't know what your problem has been lately, but please try and be nice to Lovina. You haven't spoken to her since Spring Break and I won't have you ignoring her existence while you're here. Got that, Antonio?" Mr. Carriedo said as he helped Antonio carry his bags inside. "Yes, Papa." Antonio nodded, though not convincingly. Mr. Carriedo sighed and said in warning voice, "Lovina is out with friends right now, and she'll be back in a few hours. I expect for you to greet her happily, Antonio." Antonio nodded, still unconvincingly, and stomped upstairs.

Later, Lovina returned home to find Mrs. Lopez making dinner in the kitchen, Mr. Carriedo reading the newspaper in the living room, and Antonio trotting down the stairs in a white dress shirt, black slacks and tie, and an apron. "Where are you going, bastard?" Lovina asked testily. Antonio didn't even spare her a glance, nor a whine, or unearned smile. He simply shrugged her off and answered, "Work. I put in for extra shifts now that it's summer and I have no classes or obligations." Lovina felt a pang of hurt at the way he said 'obligations' as if he was referring to her.

"Fine! Go serve coffee and cakes all you want, bastard; I don't care!" Lovina grounded out in slight anger at how he was treating her. "Okay, Lovi. See ya later!" Antonio said nonchalantly as he walked passed her out of the house.

Lovina listened as he opened the front door, grabbed his keys from the bowl next to the door, and—"Oh! I almost forgot!" Antonio's voice said. Lovina suddenly found herself being engulfed into a short, but desperately wanted and waited for hug from Antonio. But sadly, it was over just as quick as it began, and he was out the door, waving goodbye in a matter of only a few minutes.

Lovina felt cold without his touch, even though he had not hugged her long enough to transfer any heat into her body from his. She longed for Antonio's warm, tight, a tad-bit-too-long hugs. She missed his cooing over her, being called a tomato, and having him by her side all the time. She wanted him. She wanted her Antonio back.

Lovina raced up stairs to her room, locked the door behind her, and picked up her cell phone. She then proceeded to call every guy she had dates planned with for the next few weeks, and cancel.

* * *

Antonio was so happy and relieved as he drove. He had hugged Lovina; hugged her like he had been longing to do for weeks. It had been short, sure, but he still got a whiff of her natural smell—tomatoes, soil, and flowers—and he had been able to show her—if only an once—of his bottled up affection for her. But for Antonio at the moment, it was heaven.

He wished he could hug her all the time: tightly, closely, and, dare he say, lovingly. But no, he had made a choice. A choice between his happiness and Lovina's, and he had chosen Lovina's happiness. And God dammit, he was going to stick by that choice.

* * *

A few days after Antonio came to stay at Carriedo Estates, he came into work in the early morning to find everyone gathered around the manager.

"What's going on?" Antonio asked a co-worker in a hushed voice. "Boss has an announcement." He explained. "Listen up everyone!" The manager finally boomed out over everyone's hushed whispers. "We have two new employees coming in today to replace Candice and Henry, who as you know, quit recently after graduating. They have both moved on, and now we have two new guys—I mean girls, that need trained up! Any volunteers?" The manager asked. Antonio, along with Sofia, a big breasted waitress, raised their hands reluctantly.

Antonio was a nice guy, and he knew how hard it was starting out, since he had done it his self just last summer, so he raised his hand. Who knows why Sofia raised her hand; maybe she was just a nice person? "Good, Carriedo, Braginskaya, you'll be helping to train Lovina and Kim! Come out girls!" The Manager announced happily. Antonio gaped. It couldn't be her, could it?

Antonio's eyes widened in shock as Lovina Vargas and some other girl came out from the back room of the café. Lovina was in a uniform similar to his own, only instead of black slacks, she wore a knee-length, black skirt, and instead of shiny, black men's shoes, she wore black flats. Her dark hair was, as usual, pulled back by a headband, this time a black one. Her makeup was nicely done, as always. There was no doubt about it, Antonio had just volunteered to mentor Lovina Vargas.

* * *

"So why are you here?" Antonio asked later on that day as he and Lovina worked the cash register. It was a slow day, so everyone on duty was kind of just hanging around; a few had even gone home. "What do you mean, Antonio?" Lovina asked, looking up from her cell phone from where she had been texting. "Why are you working here? You're going to get your inheritance next year, and it had just been sitting in the bank for—what? Ten years? And my father gives you an allowance, too. You don't need this job, Lovina." Antonio explained. Lovina put her phone into her apron pocket, and said, "You have money, too, Antonio. Two years ago, you finally inherited your share of the insurance money from your mother's death, and next summer, you'll be inheriting your trust fund, too." Lovina answered. "Well I'm saving my money, okay? I don't even know what I'm going to do after college, so I don't want to waste my money!" Antonio defended. Lovina raised an eye brow at the Spaniard.

"You still don't know what you're going to be?" She asked curiously. For once, Antonio was the one blushing like a tomato. "W-Well, um, you see…I-I'm majoring in business like my father suggested, but in truth…I really have no clue what I want to do." Antonio explained, terribly embarrassed. Lovina smirked at the Spaniard, her green eyes twinkling with mischief. "You look like a tomato." She said matter-of-factly. Antonio's blush increased ten-fold, and Lovina's smirk evolved into a grin.

* * *

While Sofia trained Kim, Antonio trained Lovina. It seemed simple, in theory: Antonio showed Lovina the ropes, Lovina would do as she was told, and they would hopefully avoid any mistakes. Yeah…turns out it wasn't that simple.

"Lovina, go mop up the men's restroom." Antonio ordered one day. It was a busy day, and the café was packed. Antonio was busy waiting tables, and Lovina had just finished cleaning up one of the few vacant tables. Lovina looked at Antonio with disgust. "What? Hell no, bastard! You do it!" Lovina protested angrily, crossing her arms over her chest in defiance. Antonio sighed heavily in aggravation. "Please, Lovina~!" Antonio begged. He was now getting angry looks from customers he had not yet attended to, and if he didn't get to them quickly, he was going to lose customers, and then the manager would be angry, and then a whole lot of other bad stuff would happen. Lovina shook her head at Antonio and stomped away to the back room, leaving Antonio to fend for his self.

* * *

"Now, Lovina, taking orders can get pretty complicated, especially on busy days." Antonio explained carefully. Thankfully, it was a slow day and there were only a few customers in the café. Lovina nodded in understanding at Antonio's words. It had been a few weeks since she started working at the café and Antonio had finally decided to show her how to wait tables. Before now, she had cleaned up tables and floors mostly, and had helped prepare basic orders at the counter.

"First, we'll start with etiquette; when a customer first arrives, they usually seat them selves, but you should always wait about five minutes before greeting them and asking for their order. That way they have time to settle in and look at the menu. But don't wait too long, otherwise you may have an angry customer on your hands." Antonio explained. Lovina nodded, but then asked, "What if I do get an angry customer?" Antonio replied something Lovina didn't like much. "You apologize and tell him he is right." "Why?" Lovina asked. Antonio, slightly surprised by the little outburst, stumbled over his reply. "Well, Lovina, the customer is always right." He finally managed. "So if he doesn't like his coffee, it's my fault?" Lovina asked. "Yeah." Antonio answered. "So if the café is really busy and I had, like, three customers that were here before him, it's my fault?" Lovina asked. "Well, I guess, yeah." Antonio replied, not sure where Lovina was going with this. "So if I decide I don't like his attitude and pour hot coffee into his lap, it's my fault." Lovina asked. "Well, yeah, of course." Antonio said, eyeing Lovina warily. "I think I should stick to cleaning up tables." Lovina stated matter-of-factly. "I think you should, too." Antonio agreed.

* * *

"Lovina, you have to mop up better than this~!" Antonio whined. It was closing time, and the Manager had left Antonio and Lovina to clean up. Antonio had cleaned up the restrooms, entrusting the moping to Lovina. He had finished his job quickly and precisely, and had expected the same to have been done when he returned to the front of the café. It wasn't. Lovina had moped, yes, but she had done a terrible job of it.

She seemed to have neglected to mop under tables, and she hadn't cleaned the floor, she had just rearranged the dirt, which Antonio could see in places where the mop water had dried. "Whatever, bastard," Lovina pouted. "If it's not good enough, why don't you do it yourself." She grumbled. "Lovina~!" Antonio groaned. Waltzing across the café from the restroom doors, Antonio took the mop from Lovina and started mopping. Lovina hopped up on the front counter, and watched Antonio, guiltily, as he cleaned up her mess. Just like he used to when they were kids, she realized.

* * *

In the end, Lovina was fired after about a month of working at the café, and the manager hired someone else. "You never answered my question, you know." Antonio commented as he drove his self and Lovina home from the café the day she was fired. Lovina, who had been pouting and moping the whole drive, looked at the Spaniard with confusion. "What question, bastard?" She asked. "Why did you get a job in the first place? I asked you a month ago, but you never answered me." Antonio clarified. Several moments passed before Lovina answered, "I wanted you back in my life, bastard." Antonio, had he not been driving, would have looked at her with surprise and shock, and maybe even happiness and glee. Instead, his shoulders stiffened and a lump rose in his throat.

"Really?" Antonio asked hopefully. Lovina sighed exasperatedly, answering "Yes, Bastard." Antonio grinned happily as he drove. "That—" Antonio's words were cut short by Lovina's angry ones. "But I wouldn't have had to if you hadn't have been such a jerk and ignored me! I mean, seriously, you are the worst person I know! Ignoring my existence for months and months! Do you know how that feels, to be pushed out of someone's life like that?" Lovina exploded in anger, her voice strained by sadness and frustration. Antonio's smile fell into a frown, and from the corner of his green eyes he could see Lovina in near tears. "I do. You did the same thing to me, remember?" Antonio said, finally. His voice was serious and full of hurt.

Lovina looked at him with shock and hurt as well. "What do you mean—I never—" Lovina's confused questions were cut off by Antonio's explanation. "You have pushed me away for years, Lovina. I tried to be your friend. I really did. But you always—_always_—pushed me away. You called me every name in the book and more, you said you hated me and my friends, and you never once—not once, Lovina, showed me any kindness! And when I was gone and finally out of your life, I realized why. You are happier without me, Lovina." Lovina shook her head. "N-No…that's not true—" Lovina stammered, tears in her eyes. "Lovina," Antonio said, turning to look her directly in eye, his green orbs full of seriousness. It was then, that Lovina realized that they had arrived at Carriedo Estates, finally. "Tell me I'm wrong, then." Antonio told her, his voice grave and his face hard and serious.

Lovina cried and cried, but could not look away from Antonio. She shook her head at him. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry…" Lovina said. Antonio sighed heavily, and began to get out of the car. Lovina's eyes widened and she reached out grabbed Antonio by the forearm. "No, please…don't go—I'm sorry! I'm so sorry for how I treated you, Antonio!" Lovina pleaded. Antonio shook Lovina off, got out of the car, and slammed the door behind his self, leaving Lovina to cry in the front seat.

* * *

Antonio slammed the front door behind him, and stomped into the living room, frustrated, angry, and miserable, only to be met with his father. Mr. Carriedo stood by the living room window that looked out into the driveway, his face—a more aged version of Antonio's—stern with anger and disappointment. Antonio, for once, was not ashamed to be receiving this look from his father, only more frustrated by it. "What?" Antonio snapped when his father still hadn't said anything after several minutes, just giving him that same look. Mr. Carriedo sighed heavily in disappointment and finally said something. Something Antonio really didn't want to hear right now.

"Antonio, go back and apologize." Mr. Carriedo said with aggravation. "But Papa—!" Antonio tried to protest childishly. He was cut short by the look his father sent him. "No, Antonio. No 'but's. You will go back out there right now, apologize, and for f*ck's sake, confess already." Mr. Carriedo ordered—not said—ordered his son. Antonio was stunned silent by the simple fact his father had just cursed. It was f*cking weird, in Antonio's opinion. But one thing his father said confused him. "Confess what?" Antonio asked. Mr. Carriedo sighed, feeling on the brink of a headache. "That you love her, Antonio. We all know you do; I know, Cathy knows, your friends know, Lovina's friends know, God knows, your mother probably knows—I doubt even death could keep her from knowing everything as always—and you know, Antonio. Now go and let Lovina know, too."

"But I don't—" Antonio tried to deny. "You do." Mr. Carriedo cut in. "No, I—" Antonio tried again. "Yes, you do." Mr. Carriedo once again cut in. "_No_! _I don't—_" Antonio tried, again. "Antonio, you do." This time the maid, Mrs. Lopez, cut in. She had just entered the foyer from the kitchen and gave Antonio a look that she had only used on him when he was being a numb-skull. She had always been right, too.

"Holy Crap…I love her!" Antonio said with realization and disbelief mixed in his voice. Suddenly everything made sense: his feelings, his actions, and everything else. It all made sense. Why it went to such lengths for Lovina, why he took so much crap from her, why the first thing he thought about everyday was her and her well-being and how she was. Antonio loved Lovina.

* * *

Antonio hesitantly exited the house, shutting the door quietly behind him, and made his way to the car, where Lovina was still crying in the passenger seat. Antonio tried to approach quietly, but Lovina must have seen him from the corner of her eyes, because she looked up from her crying and saw Antonio. Her expression went from surprise to furiousness in ten seconds flat, a new record for her.

Before Antonio could even get with in a few feet of the car, Lovina angrily pressed the lock button on the inside of the passenger side door, locking all the doors inside the car. "Lovina," Antonio pleaded, uselessly pulling on the handle of the passenger side door. "Come on, Lovina, I need to talk to you!" Antonio pressed, his voice a near shout. Lovina shook her head at Antonio through the car window, then turned away from him and turned on the car stereo. The music was so loud, Antonio could hear it from outside the car. It was playing one of those cheesy pop songs about break ups and heart break.

How ironic, Antonio thought. Then it occurred to him that the stereo shouldn't work unless the car is on, meaning—oh no! Antonio looked through the car window, passed Lovina—who was still blatantly ignoring him—and at the car's ignition. Yep, he had left his keys in the car; now he couldn't even unlock the car manually! Antonio sighed in disappointment and aggravation, and then continued to uselessly pull at the car door and plead with Lovina to let him in.

For probably a full hour, Antonio persisted stubbornly, and for a full hour, Lovina resisted even more stubbornly. Finally, though, Antonio gave up, sighed in defeat, and stomped back inside the house. If she was going to push him away—_again_—than he wasn't going to try anymore.

When Antonio entered the foyer was the Carriedo Estate, he was met by his father. This time, Mr. Carriedo seemed much less aggravated and disappointed, instead, he actually, he seemed amused, Antonio noticed. Before Antonio could ask what was so funny, his father did something unexpected. He threw Antonio a ring of keys. Antonio caught the keys and looked at them with confusion, "What are these for?" Antonio asked. "The spare key to your car is the big silver one next to the little red one." Mr. Carriedo explained. Antonio looked at his father with confusion as to what that had to do with his question. Mr. Carriedo sighed and clarified, "Use the key to open the car door." Antonio's green eye lit up with understanding and he raced back outside.

Lovina was still in the car, but the stereo was either turned down or off because Antonio could no longer hear any music coming from the car, only saccades chirping and crickets rubbing their legs together in the cool night. Antonio approached the car carefully, this time with Lovina not noticing, and stuck the car key into the lock of the passenger side door and turning it.

Lovina jerked with surprise when the car door swung open and lights in the car suddenly came on. She gasped as Antonio grabbed her by the wrist and practically dragged her out of the car. "Bastard!" She screeched as she stumbled out of the car. "Sorry, Lovi, but you wouldn't come out!" Antonio apologized as took hold of Lovina's other wrist so she wouldn't be able to hit him or anything. "I don't care, bastard! Let me go!" She shouted, struggling to free herself. "Lovina!" Antonio snapped at her sternly, his tone of voice surprising Lovina. Lovina ceased her struggling, but still glared at Antonio.

"Lovina, I want you shut up and listen to me for once in your life. Okay?" Antonio said with a firm, serious tone that Lovina had never heard from him before. Lovina, though still glaring, nodded her head. Antonio took a deep breath and began, "Lovina, I really do care about you, okay? I did what I did because I thought you would be happier without me. I really, really did think you were happier without me around. But really, Lovina, it hurt not to be around you for so long. It hurt to see that without me around, you were happy, Lovina. Because—because, well, I wanted us to be happy together, not apart. I—um—do you understand what I'm saying, Lovi?" Antonio asked, stammering towards the end, a blush covering his face.

Lovina looked at Antonio with a raised eyebrow and shook her head. She understood the Spaniard partially, that he was just ignoring her to do what he thought she wanted and to make her happy, but that it hurt him to do it. She just didn't get the whole 'be happy together' thing. Antonio took a few more deep breaths and let them out slowly to calm himself, before confessing, "I love you, Mi Tomate."


	7. Chapter 7

Hetalia AU: Baby Stories

Story One: Antonio/Lovina

Chapter 7: Life as a couple

Note: I own nothing.

Emma—Belgium

Lars—Netherlands

Tim—Luxemburg

Lovina's aunt—Francis' mother

Maria—Monaco

Jose—Seborga

Lovina's uncle and his wife—Jose's parents

Jeanne—Joan of Arc

**Life as a Couple**

**Fall (Antonio-20, Sophomore (College), Lovina-17, Junior (High School)) **

Lovina and Antonio had not spoken since he had confessed to her in the driveway weeks before. After Antonio had said he loved her, Lovina had been speechless—she didn't know how to react or what to say to it. So she ran away from it. She broke out of Antonio's grip, ran inside the house, and locked herself in her room. She didn't dare come out of her room until Mr. Carriedo alerted her the next morning, around noon, that Antonio had left to go back to his apartment for the rest of the summer.

Antonio had tried to call multiple times, and eventually Lovina blocked his number. He tried e-mailing her; Lovina deleted them all. He left messages on the house phone's answering machine; Lovina told the maid to delete them all. He even sent her letters in the mail; Lovina threw them in the trash. Lovina had done an excellent job of avoiding Antonio, everyone in the Carriedo home (Mr. Carriedo, the maid, and Lovina herself) had to admit.

Now it was the first day of school and Lovina would have school as an excuse for not seeing or speaking to Antonio, which she was glad for. Avoiding Antonio was exhausting—mostly mentally. After the night in the car, when Antonio had called her out on pushing him away and ignoring him, Lovina had felt a tremendous amount of guilt, and with each message she deleted and phone call she ignored, her guilt grew. Each day she felt like she was digging herself deeper into a hole, and yet she couldn't stop and put down the shovel.

Lovina didn't want to ignore Antonio, she just didn't want to face his feelings. She had never been loved—at least not romantically. She knew boys at school were attracted to her, she knew some admired her fiery personality, but she also knew that wasn't love. Maybe it was because she was Italian, maybe it was because she was a Vargas, or maybe it was because she was a girl, but Lovina knew what real romantic love was.

Real love was putting up with someone despite their flaws, and loving them even more for those flaws. Real love is seeing them at their worst, but not for a moment your feelings changing. Real love is not giving up that person, no matter what. Real love transcends time and death and struggle. Real love is what Antonio felt for Lovina.

Lovina didn't know how to respond to that, because she didn't know what she felt.

Lovina saw Antonio's flaws, but she belittled him for them. Lovina saw Antonio at his worst, and hated him for awhile afterwards. Lovina gave up on Antonio more times than she could count. Lovina wasn't even sure she had any love for Antonio to transcend! She just couldn't face Antonio until she knew what exactly to say to him about his feelings.

Lovina, on the morning of the first day back to school, awoke late—as usual—and hurriedly put on her uniform, pulled her hair back with a headband, and did her makeup. She raced—almost tripping twice—down the stairs and into the kitchen, where she grabbed a tomato out of the basket on the kitchen counter and gulped down a glass of water. As Lovina was gathering her things in her book bag, tomato still in hand to eat on the way to the school, Mr. Carriedo entered the living room where she was.

"Oh, Lovina, your car seems to have a flat tire." Mr. Carriedo "offhandedly" commented as he took a seat in his favorite armchair to read his morning paper. "What?" Lovina asked, flabbergasted. Mr. Carriedo simply nodded, but then announced, "I called someone to give you a ride. They're outside right now." Lovina sighed with relief and gave her guardian a goodbye hug before racing into the foyer and opening the front door to reveal her worst nightmare: Antonio.

Antonio stood in the driveway, next to his car, giving Lovina a very serious, no-nonsense look. "What are you doing here?" Lovina asked. "I'm your ride." Antonio answered curtly. "B-But—Mr. Carriedo!" Lovina shouted, turning and running back into the living room. "You called Antonio?" Lovina asked in disbelief. Mr. Carried, not even looking away from his newspaper, nodded his head. "Why?" Lovina asked, flabbergasted. "Someone had to get you two idiots to talk to one another." Mr. Carriedo shrugged, though Lovina saw the corners of his mouth turn up slightly. Oh, that manipulative bastard, Lovina cursed inwardly.

"Are you ready to go?" Antonio asked, suddenly appearing in the living room as well. Lovina nervously nodded her head and followed Antonio out the door, but not without glaring daggers over her shoulder at Mr. Carriedo, who simply waved goodbye nonchalantly.

"Why have you been avoiding me?" Antonio asked as he drove. Lovina was quiet for several moments, and Antonio was just about to repeat his question when she finally did answer. "I'm confused, alright, bastard." Lovina answered, not daring to look over at Antonio, instead focusing on the passing scenery outside the window. "Why?" Antonio asked, confusion in his voice. Lovina exhaled heavily through her nose, and then explained as best she could, "You confessed out of nowhere that you were—" "Still am." "Whatever, Antonio! It's still a lot to take in! I mean, what did you expect? A story book ending where I love you back and we live happily ever after!? Well guess what, Antonio, story book endings aren't real!" Lovina snapped with obvious aggravation and exasperation.

"I'm not asking for a story book ending! I just want a straight answer out of you, Lovina! I try to be close to you, you push me away! I stay away, you want me back! I say I love you, and you won't give me an answer!" Antonio protested, each word like a stab at Lovina's character. "What answer are you talking about, bastard!? What's the question even?" Lovina said angrily, this time looking directly at Antonio for the first time since she got in the car. "Do you love me back or not?" Antonio asked in annoyance and frustration.

The car was eerily quiet for several moments, and eventually, Antonio came to be parked in front of Lovina's school. Still, she sat there quietly, looking down at her hands in her lap, quieter than Antonio had ever seen her. "Lovina?" Antonio asked worriedly. "We're here. Hurry in or you'll be late." Antonio told her softly, examining her from the driver's seat with worried green eyes. "Mi Tomate," Antonio pressed, this time placing a hand on her shoulder and shaking her lightly. "Are you okay?" Still no response, greatly concerning Antonio. Outside, the school's tardy bell rang; Lovina was late for school.

"Take me somewhere else, Antonio. Anywhere; just somewhere we can talk." Lovina finally said, her voice slightly hoarse and her own green eyes refusing to meet Antonio's. Antonio wordlessly complied, restarting the car, and pulling away from the school.

* * *

The drive to Antonio's apartment complex was quiet, and so was the short journey up to the apartment. Lovina followed Antonio silently up the stairs, down the hall to his apartment door, and waited patiently as he unlocked the door and let her inside. Lovina wasted no time in sitting herself down on Antonio's ugly green couch, and she waited patiently for Antonio to sit down next to her, as well. Antonio was greatly confused by Lovina's actions, and with each silent moment that passed, he became more and more worried about the Italian.

When Antonio had settled next to her, Lovina looked at him for the first time since he had been driving to her school, met his eyes bravely and stated clearly and concisely, "I love you, Tomato Bastard." Antonio was taken aback by Lovina's suddenness, her words, and demeanor. His green eyes widened in shock and his mouth dropped into a small gape, his features morphing to show his disbelief and awe and so many other emotions that he could never describe thoroughly enough, even with a million pieces of paper, a pencil that never ran out of lead, and a dictionary.

Lovina, taking Antonio's silence as her opportunity to explain, began, in a surprisingly calm and quiet voice, "I don't know why I love an idiot like you. I don't know why I grave your attention—or why I push it away either—or why the first thing I think about in the morning everyday is you. Whether it be that I think you're an idiot, or that you p*ss me off, or that I just plain miss you, it's always something about you. I promised myself, a long time ago, not to get close to others because they'll just leave you behind someday, they'll leave you alone and everyone will expect you to move on like nothing had ever happened, that everything is okay still. But I broke that promise a long time ago. I don't know when, or why, or how, but I did. You made me break that promise." Lovina's words started to come out in stammers, and a red hot blush began to cover her olive skinned cheeks, making Antonio grin at the sight of it.

"I-I pushed you away because, um…because I didn't want to have you leave me someday. But I still did somehow, and then you left." Lovina said, her voice cracking at the end of the last sentence. Antonio looked at Lovina with sad eyes and his grin died on his lips. The young Spaniard gently took one of Lovina's hands in his, and said in a gentle, sincere, accented voice, "I'm so sorry, Lovina. But you never told me not to leave." Lovina nodded, once again avoiding eye contact, and said, "I know, and that was my fault. I shouldn't have blamed you for ignoring me, either." Lovina let out a sardonic chuckle. "God I'm such a hypocrite!" Lovina groaned, letting her head fall back against the couch and smiling to herself scathingly. Antonio tightened his grip on her hand and grinned at her, "Yeah, you are." He said with mirth in his eyes. "But I still love you, Mi Tomate! So cheer up and besame!" Antonio cheered with his usual glee. (A/N: Besame means "Kiss me" in Spanish)

Lovina's head snapped up and she gave Antonio a look that in all honesty called him an idiot. Still, with a habanera red blush, Lovina leaned across the short distance between her self and Antonio and pecked him shyly on the cheek. Antonio laughed as she quickly pulled away and looked away shyly, asking with a grin, "That's it?" Lovina looked at him from the corner of her eye, still blushing brightly, and answered irritably, "Yes, Tomato Bastard! And that's all you're getting, too!" Antonio pouted at Lovina, "Oh come one Lovina, is that any way to treat your boyfriend?" He asked, giving his best puppy dog eyes. Lovina looked at him with stunned green eyes, her blush deepening ten-fold. "B-Boyfriend?!" She asked in incredulously. "Si, we are going to date now, right? Now that you have confessed your love for me, it's the most obvious thing to do next!" Antonio said with optimism.

Lovina glared—half heartedly—at Antonio, and said with a slight bite in her tone, "Not on your life, Antonio!" Antonio only laughed in response.

* * *

Lovina's classmates noticed a change in Lovina as the weeks passed. She started denying the boys who asked her out or wanted her number, even the popular and cute ones. She spent less time with her friends, too. As weeks passed, her number of friends dwindled as she grew apart from the others, and boys eventually stopped trying to ask her out. Someone, some noticed, dropped her off and picked her up everyday, which didn't make sense since Lovina had a car herself.

There was only one explanation: Lovina had a boyfriend.

Antonio's friends and co-workers noticed a change in Antonio as the weeks passed. He stopped accepting numbers from his customers, even to just be polite. He never seemed to be able to go to parties anymore either. His cheerful demeanor, which had been replaced with a grumpy and depressed one for a time, had suddenly returned, possibly even more joyful than before. Antonio also seemed to talk about Lovina a lot, too.

There was only one explanation: Antonio had a girlfriend.

**Winter **

Christmas time rolled around and soon Antonio came to stay with his family and Lovina at Carriedo Estates once again. This time with some ground rules.

"You two aren't sleeping on the same floor, you aren't allowed in each other's rooms, I'm not leaving you two alone in the house together, and if I catch you two making out on the couch or something, I'm getting a bucket of water. Understood?" Mr. Carriedo asked in a stern, fatherly tone. Antonio and Lovina, who were sitting on the couch while Mr. Carriedo stood before them and listed the rules, nodded their heads, blushing. Lovina, though she would never admit it, was disappointed by this. No, it wasn't like she and Antonio were planning anything, but she did want to at least be able to be close to him during his stay. Antonio was rather insulted. Did his father really have so little trust in him?

Mr. Carriedo dismissed the two young adults, stating that he had a meeting to get to, and that Mrs. Lopez, the maid, would be keeping a very careful eye on them while he was gone. Mr. Carriedo left the house several moments later, leaving the two young adults to figure out what they could do with their idle time. It was too cold to garden, nothing was on TV, and they both had eaten already. Really, there was nothing to do besides maybe make-out and maybe do a little groping. Sadly, this had been outlawed in the Carriedo home…which made it all the more appealing. But, no, Antonio was a good son who obeyed his father's orders, and Lovina was not ungrateful towards Mr. Carriedo and would not break the rules he had set in place.

Antonio and Lovina instead sat down on the couch and popped in an old movie, resisting for almost two hours the urge to suck each other's faces off.

* * *

"So," Cathy began with a smirk one night over dinner in the Carriedo home. "Have you two f*cked yet?" She asked shamelessly. Mrs. Lopez gave the Hispanic young woman a disapproving look—which Cathy ignored—and Mr. Carriedo looked up from his meal with surprise. Antonio nearly choked on his food, giving his sister an incredulous look, while Lovina flushed head to toe bright red and stammered obscenities.

"N-No way! Like I'd waste my virginity on this bastard!" Lovina finally managed to get out. Antonio gave her his best puppy dog eyes, "Oh, Lovi, I thought we were past name calling!" He pouted like a kicked puppy. Lovina looked at him, then quickly looked away from his hurt gaze, feeling a tad guilty. Still… "No, Catherine, we haven't done anything." Lovina stated, this time much more calmly before returning to her meal. However, her cheeks remained stained red for the rest of supper.

* * *

Yet again, Mr. Carriedo left the house, as did Cathy, both to do some last minute Christmas gift shopping. Mrs. Lopez had settled down in the living room to read one of her cheesy romance novels, since her work was done for the evening. This left just Antonio and Lovina, again. They had, in the last week or so of Antonio's stay, run out of things to do with their idle time. Every movie had been watched, every board game played, and every conversation topic explored. Now, all they wanted to do was throw themselves at each other.

But Mr. Carriedo had forbid it in his house.

However, he said nothing about someone else's home...

* * *

Lovina hadn't been there in months—since she had began to dating Antonio and had been forbidden from going there alone with him. But now, she didn't really care. She hadn't kissed her boyfriend in a week—at least not passionately—and now it was time to recoup her losses. Antonio and Lovina told Mrs. Lopez they were going to a movie and then out to eat. She wished them a goodbye, completely trusting, making the two young adults guilty. But still, they drove into the city, to Antonio's apartment complex. They parked in the parking garage across the street and then high-tailed it inside the building and up to Antonio's apartment.

The moment the apartment door closed behind them, Lovina was all over Antonio. She slammed her lips into his, sending him reeling back against the door. Antonio was stunned for a moment, but then eagerly returned the kiss, with possibly even more force. Lovina parted her lips and let Antonio inside, and soon the two were playing a game of tonsil hockey as Antonio guided Lovina into his living room, his hands firmly gripping her hips.

Antonio practically shoved Lovina onto the couch, not that she minded, and from there things escalated. They escalated and escalated, until finally the situation seemed to get completely out of hand. Logic no longer had a say in their actions and hormones ruled all. As they say, one thing led to another. Basically, Antonio and Lovina moved from the couch to the bedroom.

Several days of pent up sexual tension had finally been released in a few hours of bliss.

* * *

Lovina and Antonio awoke a few hours later, tangled in Antonio's bed sheets and each other. The first things a still-groggy-Lovina realized upon waking were that she was sticky and that her lower body ached. Next, she realized that Antonio slept next to her, drooling and snoring softly. Finally, she realized, upon standing up and wincing, that she was no loner a good Catholic girl.

Anger flooded her system, her green eyes filled with fire and she glared down at her Spanish boyfriend with fury and distaste. The bastard had taken her virginity! Lovina's hand came down hard on Antonio's cheek, causing a loud slap sound to fill the bedroom. Antonio, eyes wide with shock, one side of his face now red with the sting of the slap, jolted awake, looking around the room in alarm. "What the Hell, Lovina!?" Antonio asked as his eyes landed on her angry form, a hand cradling his injured cheek. "You bastard!" Lovina hissed. "What did I do?" Antonio asked looking at her with raised eyebrows. "You stole my innocence!" Lovina growled.

Antonio's eyes widened a moment, before clarity and memories of a few hours ago cam flooding back. He looked around the room, at his self, and Lovina. Then, matter-of-factly, said, "This is a good thing." Lovina rewarded him with another slap. "OW! Lovina, I'm not into S & M, okay! Please stop hitting me!" Antonio protested. Lovina glared at him and tried to slap him again, but this time Antonio caught her hand in his, stopping her. "I said stop it, Lovina." He said with a surprisingly firm voice.

Lovina relaxed slightly, though she continued to glare stubbornly at Antonio. Antonio sighed, and with the hand that did not grip Lovina's wrist, ran a hand through the dark curls on his head. "Lovina, I know you're angry, but this was going to happen eventually—" "No, it wasn't! It wasn't supposed to go like this Antonio!" Lovina snapped angrily, cutting off Antonio. Antonio's gaze softened as he spied tears welling in Lovina's green eyes. "I was supposed to remain a God damn virgin until my f*cking wedding night…I was going to lose my virginity to my f*cking husband…I wasn't supposed to lose it in a damn dingy apartment, crazy with hormones to my boyfriend of three f*cking months!" By the time Lovina finished her furious rant, she was in tears, sobbing. Hopelessly it seemed, she fell face first onto the bed and cried into one of the pillows.

Antonio carefully placed a hand on her bare back and rubbed it reassuringly. "I'm sorry…I should have controlled myself better…I'm sorry, Lovina…" Antonio whispered apologetically as Lovina cried.

Lovina's cries subsided an hour later, and shortly after the couple left the apartment and returned back to Carriedo Estate. It was only late afternoon, so Mrs. Lopez asked no questions other than how the movie was, which they replied to by saying, "It was kind of sad." They spent the rest of the evening apart, and when Mr. Carriedo and Cathy returned home and dinner was served, Antonio and Lovina did not speak.

They did not touch one another for the rest of Winter break.


	8. Chapter 8

Hetalia AU: Baby Stories

Story One: Antonio/Lovina

Chapter 8: Irresponsible

Note: I own nothing. Also, I made a mistake with Antonio and his family's last name. I mixed up Fernandez-Carriedo. Fernandez was supposed to be his dad's surname, and Carriedo is mom's maiden name, but I mixed it up and made Carriedo his dad's surname and Fernandez is Mom's maiden name, but in Spanish tradition, it's supposed to go 'dad's surname-mom's maiden name', instead I put, 'mom's maiden name-dad's surname'. Now, I wish I could fix this, but I'm lazy, okay. Just…just deal with it, and I'm sorry. Okay?

Emma—Belgium

Lars—Netherlands

Tim—Luxemburg

Lovina's aunt—Francis' mother

Maria—Monaco

Jose—Seborga

Lovina's uncle and his wife—Jose's parents

Jeanne—Joan of Arc

**Irresponsible **

**Winter (Antonio-20; Sophomore-College, Lovina-17; Junior-High School)**

Lovina was totally f*cked. She was late. Not late to class—she wished—not late for a party, not late for a date with Antonio—hell no!—she was the worst kind of late a girl at 17—almost 18—could be. Lovina Vargas' period was late.

It was only a week, sure, but for Lovina, after what happened with Antonio the month before, it might as well be a sign of the apocalypse. That bastard had gotten her pregnant—or, rather, he might have. It was all Antonio's fault, Lovina kept on muttering as she glared at her the calendar in her bedroom, the cause of her discovery. She had been writing down the date for her and Antonio's next dinner date, when she had noticed something. Today's date was January 22. Then it occurred to her that her period usually started around the 16th, and yet she had not yet experienced the usual cramps, headaches, and bloating this month. Then, she realized with a start, that this meant she was approximately eight days late, a little over a week late! This realization followed by a string of curses aimed at Antonio, her calendar, and even her self for not noticing sooner.

Lovina should have known that Antonio didn't use a condom. She should have gone straight out and bought the morning after pill. But _no~!_ _She had to go cry about it for a week and pout about losing her f*cking virginity to Antonio before marriage! _Lovina couldn't help but want to beat her past self from a few weeks ago with a baseball bat, but she wanted to hit the Antonio of the present even more.

Oh how she wished to just go marching over to his apartment, or class, or work—where ever the hell he was—and tell him off for being so irresponsible. But then, she knew deep down, though she would not admit aloud to anyone, not even her self, that she was being hypocritical. She had been just as irresponsible, she knew…but still, Antonio was an easy scapegoat at the moment, and at the moment she had enough problems without blaming her self for the situation she was in.

Lovina needed to confirm—or hopefully disprove—her suspicions. She needed to go down to the pharmacy and buy a pregnancy test. Problem was, Lovina was too much of a coward to do it. Not even if she had Antonio with her, she would be too ashamed and embarrassed. And how could she ask Antonio to go with her to buy a pregnancy test? That would be even more embarrassing than buying the test! So Lovina made a plan…she was going to get someone else to buy it for her.

* * *

Lovina drove to a pharmacy on the far side of town, hopefully where no one she knew would see her or no one would even know her. She wore a hoodie, however, just in case, and kept the hood pulled over her head. Lovina parked her car down the street a little ways, and got out and walked to the pharmacy.

Instead of going inside, Lovina took a seat on the bench outside it and waited patiently. Or, at least she tried. Lovina quickly became bored and began texting on her phone to pass the time as she waited. She glanced up when she saw someone about to enter the pharmacy. If it was a teenager or man, she would always immediately return her attention to her phone, if it was a woman…"Excuse me, Miss?" Lovina asked, standing up from the bench. A woman, who had been about to enter the pharmacy, turned and looked at Lovina curiously. "Yes?" The woman asked. Lovina felt heat rise in her cheeks as she pulled some money out of her pocket and held it out to the woman, who looked at it with surprise. "Miss, can you please buy me a…a pregnancy test…?" Lovina asked shyly. The woman looked at Lovina with shock for a moment, before hesitantly taking the money and heading inside.

Lovina waited about half an hour on the bench waiting for the woman. It was chilly out, and snow began to fall as she waited, but Lovina didn't mind. Her thoughts were on waiting on the woman. Eventually, the woman returned and handed Lovina paper bag and her change. "Thank you very much, Miss." Lovina said thankfully, again blushing deeply. "It was no trouble. I understand that you must have felt very embarrassed. I'm a married woman and even I was embarrassed to buy my first pregnancy test, and I was well into my late twenties." The woman explained with a good natured smile, wishing Lovina the best and walking away. Lovina let out a sigh of relief upon opening the bag; there were three pregnancy tests inside.

* * *

Lovina rushed home with the paper bag, and was thankful to find the house empty on her arrival home. Not even Mrs. Lopez was in the house. Lovina's first course of action upon arriving home was to head into the kitchen and grab two bottles of water. The second was to race upstairs, into her room, and lock the door. Over the next half-hour, Lovina downed the two bottles of water…then the waiting game began.

Lovina walked around her room, up and down stairs, and even drank another bottle of water. Still, she did not feel the need to pee. Lovina feared that by the time she felt the urge, Mr. Carriedo or Mrs. Lopez might come back. She feared that they'd become suspicious, that she might give something away unknowingly, or that they might find the pregnancy tests before she had a chance to even take them.

But eventually, Lovina felt the urge and raced into the upstairs bathroom with the paper bag. She took out the first test, sat down on the toilet, and read the instructions. They took some deciphering, but Lovina found them fairly simple. And so, she got down to business…

* * *

The first test, the wait was agonizing. Four minutes of Hell, seriously. All Lovina felt was suspense, frustration, and aggravation. She would sometimes dare to look, or even touch, her stomach, wondering briefly if her son or daughter was inside her at that moment, growing. The thought greatly disturbed Lovina.

Four minutes eventually passed, and when Lovina read the test's results, checking the box twice to make sure, she was relieved. Negative.

* * *

The second test was a different brand and took five minutes, but the wait seemed to pass quicker than the first. Maybe it was because Lovina was more relaxed. Now she had the ability to doubt that she was pregnant, so the thought became less scary and intimidating it seemed. Heck, now that she looked at her stomach, she no longer thought of the potential baby growing inside. No, she thought about going on a diet instead.

The second test was negative. Lovina found her self relaxing even more, smiling even. She laughed to herself quietly, mentally calling herself an idiot for getting so worked up. She took the third test and began the four minute wait for the results.

She sat on the bathroom counter top, the tests sitting next to her, waiting. As she waited, Lovina occupied her self by brushing her teeth and washing her hands. Then she touched up her makeup, and finally ran a comb through her hair. By the time she was finished, the test results were in. Negative…is what Lovina thought it would say.

Positive. She checked the box's instructions. Positive. She triple checked. Positive. Pregnant. The test was positive…Lovina stared at the accursed test with horror.

"Oh sh*t." Lovina cursed. There was a 33.3% chance she was pregnant.

* * *

Antonio had out of the blue gotten a call from Lovina in middle of his shift at the café telling him to come over and quick. Of course, Antonio told his boss it was an emergency and rushed across town to his childhood home. Even as he pulled up the estate's long driveway, he could tell something was terribly wrong. Lovina was waiting outside for him, pacing in front of the front door.

"What's wrong?" Antonio asked with great concern as he got out of his car, slamming the door behind him. Lovina halted in her pacing, and turned towards Antonio, her face red and angry, her cheeks wet with tears. "Y-You bastard…you…you didn't…_You f*cking idiota!"_ Lovina screamed her voice wracked with rage and distress. Antonio was taken aback—never had he seen Lovina so…so furiously upset. "Lovi, tell me what's wrong? Please!" Antonio pleaded; his tensions were growing by the second it seemed.

Lovina turned away from Antonio and began pacing again, wiping her face of tears and muttering curses under her breath. Antonio watched her with worried green eyes, wishing she would just tell him what was wrong already. "Lovina," Antonio said, trying to catch her attention. "Lovina!" He called again, this time with more force. Still, Lovina kept pacing and crying. "Lovina Katherine Vargas, tell me what is wrong right now!" Antonio shouted, this time he grabbed Lovina forearms and spun her around to face him. She looked at him with tearful green eyes and bit her lip.

Several moments of silence passed before Lovina finally confessed, "I might be…pregnant." "What?" Antonio asked, giving her a look of confusion. Lovina didn't realize that she had practically mumbled her words, so Antonio didn't hear her. Lovina, not knowing this, glared up at the Spaniard. "I might be pregnant, bastard!" Lovina growled, yanking herself out of Antonio's grip and stomping inside the house.

Antonio was left stunned for several moments. Lovina might be pregnant…with his child. He might very well become a father soon…Oh sh*t, Antonio mentally cursed. He stared at the front door that Lovina had just walked through, and then looked back at his car, and finally, down at the keys in his hand. The key chain held his car key, his apartment key, the key to Carriedo Estate's front gate and front and back doors. He could easily drive away and go into denial. Drink a few beers back at his apartment with Francis and Gilbert, maybe. But Lovina needed him right now…she had been so distraught when he arrived. And what if she really was pregnant? She needed him for comfort.

Antonio jogged up to the front door, unlocked the front door—as it had been locked as he had expected—and raced into the house, calling Lovina's name.

* * *

The next day, the couple went a pharmacy on the other side of town, and together bought some more pregnancy tests. Lovina had blushed furiously and had not uttered a word the whole time as she picked out tests off the shelves, while Antonio awkwardly followed her, making a few attempts at conversation, but always failing. Antonio paid for the tests at the counter while Lovina rushed outside to go wait in the car. The cashier had taken one look at Antonio's purchases and shook his head, and Antonio felt a great amount of shame and embarrassment as he did. The cashier bagged the purchases wordlessly and gave the bag to Antonio when he was finished.

Antonio exited the pharmacy as quickly as possible.

* * *

He drove his self and Lovina to his apartment next. Lovina had entered reluctantly, as last time she had been there it had led to their current situation, but she still managed to step inside and settle on the couch, though her face was tomato red. Antonio would have gleefully commented on her face's color any other time, but he knew now was no time for jokes.

Antonio poured Lovina several glasses of water, which she downed quickly and entirely. It took maybe an hour—which was spent in awkward silence, watching Spanish soap operas—for Lovina to hear the call of nature. Lovina took seven pregnancy tests into Antonio's bathroom with her. A half hour later, she came out with a neutral expression.

"Well?" Antonio asked anxiously. "Come see for yourself, bastard." Lovina replied. Antonio felt a huge knot form in his gut at her words. Hesitantly, he made his way into the small apartment bathroom with Lovina. On the sink counter, seven pregnancy tests were lined up in a neat row. They all said different things since they were all different brands. One had one pink line, another had a blue dot, and one even read simply "Not Pregnant". "What do they all say?" Antonio asked nervously, giving Lovina a look of confusion. Lovina's neutral face split with a huge, relieved smile. "Negative! Every single one of them!" Lovina exclaimed, pulling Antonio into a hug.

Antonio felt a huge weight was off his shoulders and relief coursed through his veins. He hugged Lovina back tightly, grinning as he rested his head on her shoulder. "You really had me fooled, Mi Tomate! I really thought I was going to be a father there for a second!" Antonio laughed. He was overjoyed to hear Lovina chuckle as well. "That was pay back for not using a condom, you idiot!" She said. The word 'idiot' held no venom or distain; it was rather playful, in fact.

"Come on," Antonio said as he pulled out of the hug. "Let's go out and see a movie to celebrate, Lovi!" It sounded kind of awkward, celebrating not being expectant parents, but Lovina allowed Antonio to guide her out of his apartment, grabbing both his and her coat as he did, and down to his car. After all they had been through, they deserved to see a good movie.


	9. Chapter 9

Hetalia AU: Baby Stories

Story One: Antonio/Lovina

Chapter 9: The Proposal

Emma—Belgium

Lars—Netherlands

Tim—Luxemburg

Lovina's aunt—Francis' mother

Maria—Monaco

Jose—Seborga

Lovina's uncle and his wife—Jose's parents

Jeanne—Joan of Arc

**The Proposal **

**Summer (Antonio-21, Lovina-18)**

It had been about six months since the pregnancy scare, and Antonio and Lovina's relationship had grown from it. Antonio started acting a little more mature. Sure, he was still absentminded and a tad annoying, but he started trying to act more like an adult. No more taking Lovina out for a movie and pizza. Instead, he took her to nice restaurants and to the local art museums, which she loved, and the park. He was still good old, childish Antonio, though. He still liked going to the bar with his friends and going to parties when he could. He liked dragging Lovina to the park to play football with him, and gardening, too.

Lovina became a bit less critical of others. She accepted the fact that she was also at fault in her and Antonio's crisis, and she also accepted the fact that sometimes she was just being a tad mean to Antonio. She still cursed like a sailor and had a temper to boot, but she learned—with trial and error—to hold her tongue and instead take a few deep breaths when a situation annoyed her or upset her or angered her, etc. etc. Lovina learned slowly when it was the right time and place to yell and curse, rather than exploding like a nuclear bomb on Antonio on a regular basis. It was give and take, Lovina realized. She had been giving criticisms and insults for years, never taking any her self from Antonio. Now that they were dating and she was growing up, Lovina knew it was time to reign in her emotions and start acting like a grown woman, not a bratty little girl.

She still insulted him and cursed openly, but she toned it down to socially acceptable levels. She only called him a 'bastard' in private, and instead an 'idiot' in public, and even then it was only when he acted like a numb-skull. She would still cuss him out when he angered her enough, but she learned to hold her tongue on the small stuff. She still had a temper, but she learned to vent it; she started going to the gym with Elizabeta and Feliciana. Lovina didn't change completely. She still loved fashion, shopping, gardening, and tomatoes. She still couldn't stand stupidity—though her tolerance was growing—and hated the taste of alcohol, obnoxiousness, and work.

They told no one of their little indiscretion, but that didn't mean others had not found out. Mrs. Lopez found the first three tests in the trash. She didn't tell Mr. Carriedo, though. Instead, she demanded that Antonio and Lovina attend confessional at church…and take out the garbage for her for a week…and also do the laundry…and many other humiliating chores. So, of course, their priest found out. And every church has its gossips and eavesdroppers, so basically everyone in church found out. And it all ended up getting back to Mr. Carriedo. The middle-aged Spaniard had been furious. But also confused—Antonio was his son, but he had raised Lovina like a daughter. He felt the need to rip apart Antonio because he had nearly gotten his—adoptive—daughter pregnant. But at the same time, he felt the need to defend Antonio and his actions as his father. He settled instead on not allowing Lovina and Antonio on any more dates outside the house, unless he supervised, of course. Still, Antonio and Lovina's relationship only proved to grow.

Antonio and Lovina did not have any sex after their pregnancy scare. They kissed, made out, and occasionally hit third base when left alone long enough, but after what happened last time, both were scared sh*tless of getting knocked up.

They both vehemently agreed that they weren't ready to be parents yet and if making sure they wouldn't become parents just yet meant not having sex, they were okay with that. They just weren't ready to have a baby.

But in Antonio's opinion, they were ready for something else.

* * *

"Papa, please don't tag along tonight!" Antonio begged his father. Antonio had come over to his childhood home out of the blue, surprising his father. Lovina was out shopping with friends, so Antonio's visit was a tad bit unexpected. But then, he had made his request...Mr. Carriedo was a man who stuck with his morals and a strict—but very loving and caring—father. "No, Antonio. After what happened last time…" Mr. Carriedo trailed off, though he gave Antonio a serious and meaningful look to punctuate the point. "But Papa, this is important! I swear!" Antonio pleaded with his best puppy dog eyes. Mr. Carriedo wasn't buying into it, though. "Sorry, son, but I gave my godfather my word that would protect his granddaughter—whether she's dating my son or not!" Mr. Carriedo said with a shake of his head. Antonio looked at his father with confusion and surprise. "Mr. Vargas really said that? Wow, that's really specific—he must've been physic or something!" Antonio commented. Mr. Carriedo shook his head at his son. He knew he shouldn't have let Isabella have that sip of wine when she was pregnant.

"Antonio that's not what I meant, I—oh, whatever, the point is you and Lovina are not going to be left alone on this date!" Mr. Carriedo said, his voice forceful towards the end. "I love you son, I really do, and that's why I'm doing this! What if you two went back to your apartment and—and—you know—and Lovina got pregnant? Both of your lives would be ruined!" Mr. Carriedo continued. "Five minutes! Leave us be for five minutes!" Antonio begged, his eyes and face hopeful. "You know you cousin, Carlos?" Mr. Carriedo asked randomly. "The Cuban one?" Antonio asked uncertainly. "My sister and her husband made him in three minutes." Mr. Carriedo deadpanned. "Ew! Gross, Papa! How do you know that?!" Antonio asked in disgust. "Your aunt has a pair of loose lip like you." Mr. Carriedo stated.

"Papa, I really need you not to be there when I…" Antonio trailed off. "When you what, son?" Mr. Carriedo asked curiously. "When I…propose…" Antonio answered with a blush. Mr. Carriedo stared at his son in shock for several moments. He really had not seen that coming. "Are you mad, Papa?" Antonio asked sheepishly. Mr. Carriedo beamed at his son and shook his head. "Son," Mr. Carriedo said. "Go on that date…and bring me back a daughter-in-law." Antonio's face split with a huge grin. "Does that mean you won't—" "Son, shut up and go get ready for that date. I'll just watch some TV here tonight." Mr. Carriedo interrupted his son. Antonio beamed gleefully and hugged his father tightly before leaving his childhood home to go get ready for his date.

* * *

"No paternal supervision? How'd you swing that, Antonio?" Lovina asked as she and Antonio took their seats at their table. Usually, Mr. Carriedo would either arrive with them or already be at the restaurant when the couple went on dates. But so far, Lovina hadn't seen Mr. Carriedo anywhere. Was he using covert tactics, Lovina asked herself?

"It took some talking, but Papa decided to stay home and watch some TV tonight." Antonio answered with a smile. Lovina raised an eyebrow at his explanation, but shrugged it off and instead picked up a menu. Antonio picked up his menu as well, but he couldn't concentrate on the words, let alone on what he wanted to eat. He was so nervous, so exited, and so, so impatient.

* * *

The meal was unusually quiet, Lovina noted uneasily when they exited the restaurant a little over an hour later. Antonio hadn't said more than a few words, and they always seemed to come out nervously. He had fidgeted the whole time: tapping his feet, drumming his fingers on the table, and avoiding eye contact. What the Hell is up with him, Lovina asked herself? Lovina found herself growing annoyed with Antonio's behavior as time passed.

"Hey, idiot, why are you being so quiet?" Lovina asked with slight agitation as she and Antonio walked over to his car. Antonio seemed to determined to avoid eye contact as he answered, "N-no reason! I just feel a little sick is all!" His voice was nervous, Lovina noted suspiciously. "Then why'd you come at all?" Lovina snapped with narrow, annoyed green eyes. "I-I…Oh! I think I left my keys inside! Excuse me, Lovi!" Antonio said hurriedly. He turned on his heels and zipped back to the restaurant, leaving Lovina standing by the car, fuming.

Lovina glared at his retreating back for a moment before taking a few deep breaths to calm herself. "Stay calm, Lovina. Stay calm. I'm sure it's nothing; you know how weird Antonio can be sometimes. It's nothing." Lovina spoke to herself calmly. She felt her irritation lower as the minutes passed. Soon, she felt much calmer.

* * *

Antonio returned smiling, though his smile seemed rather sheepish to Lovina. Almost silently, Antonio opened the passenger side door for Lovina, helped her in, and then got into the car his self. They drove for five minutes in awkward silence, and as the minutes passed, Lovina's annoyance slowly returned.

"Why are we out here, bastard?" Lovina asked testily. Antonio had just turned off the car's engine a moment ago and Lovina was quick to criticize their location. They were in a local park's parking lot. The park was deserted and they were the only ones there, it was cold out, Lovina could tell when she opened her door and got out, and it was just plain old boring.

"I thought we could take a walk." Antonio explained as he got out. Lovina looked at him like he had just said something unbelievably stupid, which he had in her opinion. "In the middle of the night?" She asked. "Yeah." Antonio answered obviously. "With no one around?" She asked. "Yeah." Antonio replied. "Antonio," Lovina began with a small smirk. "Do you want to have sex or something?" She asked. "What?!" Antonio shouted, flabbergasted and blushing in embarrassment.

Lovina felt a bit of relief, actually. Antonio must have felt frisky and was shy about asking her about maybe having sex. She couldn't help but feel a bit relieved about this assumption. Still, she was going to say 'no' when Antonio calmed down. But for now, she'd enjoy watching her boyfriend squirm in embarrassment at being caught.

"N-No! I was…I was going to—uh…I-I—" Antonio floundered. Lovina just shook her head at him. "Antonio, calm down. It's natural, really—I won't do it—but you don't have to be embarrassed about wanting it." Lovina said, still smirking at the Spaniard. Lovina made to get back into the car, but was stopped by the next few words that flooded out of her boyfriend's mouth.

"Marry me?!" Antonio shouted, his voice pleading and distressed.

Lovina stared at Antonio, stunned.

"Lovina Katherine Vargas," Antonio said. The Spaniard stood on the other side of the car, his face unusually serious, though he unconsciously fidgeted. "Will you marry me?" He asked. Lovina was stunned silent for several terrible moments.

"…You idiot…" Lovina said, tears welling in her eyes. Antonio's expression fell and became that of a kicked and crestfallen puppy.

"I love you…" Lovina said. Antonio looked at her then with great surprise; it was his turn to be stunned. Was she going to say…? Antonio asked his self.

"You have to take care of me, okay…there always has to be food on the table and the bills paid…but you also have to spend time with me…and you're never allowed to leave me. If you live a hundred, Antonio…than I damn well better die a day before you…." Lovina said, tears slipping down her cheeks. "Because I never wanna live one damn hellish day without you." She finished.

Antonio stared at Lovina in awe for several moments before saying, "I can't do that, Lovina." Lovina looked at him like he had just taken a baseball bat to her heart. But Antonio quickly corrected, "I don't want to live a day without you, either!"

Lovina smiled at Antonio like she never had before. It was a sweet, gentle smile that Antonio thought suited her very well. "Okay," She complied. "Than I guess we'll stay together forever. Okay, Tomato Bastard?" She asked. "Okay, Mi Tomate." Antonio answered.

**A/N: Wow, that ending was sappy. I hope you all like my new portrayals of Antonio and Lovina. We're approaching the end people—after all, children aren't too far behind marriage. The fun part, though, is seeing how it happens! ;) **


	10. Chapter 10

Hetalia AU: Baby Stories

Story One: Antonio/Lovina

Chapter 10: The Wedding

Emma—Belgium: 20 yrs old

Lars—Netherlands: 22 yrs old

Tim—Luxemburg: 15 yrs old

Lovina's aunt—Francis' mother: late 40s

Maria—Monaco: 15 yrs old

Jose—Seborga: 14 yrs old

Lovina's uncle and his wife—Jose's parents: late 30s

Jeanne—Joan of Arc: deceased, aged 19

Michelle—Seychelles: 13 yrs old

Marguerite/Meg—Canada: 17 yrs old

Carlos—Cuba: 17 yrs old

Rosa—Mexico: 16 yrs old

Consuelo—Puerto Rico: 17 yrs old

**The Wedding**

**Summer (Antonio-22; Senior (College), Lovina-19)**

Lovina stood before the full-length mirror in awe. It was perfect: her dress, her makeup, her hair—everything. Her dress was perfectly white, simple but stunning. It hugged her curves, but modest enough, as it had long sleeves, and the white accentuated her natural dark features. Her dark hair was pulled back into a bun, and the pin that accessorized it was also attached to her veil. Her makeup was in mostly natural tones, though her eye shadow was darker and her mascara was laid on thick, enhancing her olive green eyes' presence.

It was all so perfect.

"You look so pretty, sorella!" Feliciana exclaimed happily, coming up and hugging her sister from behind. Feliciana was in a red, short sleeved gown, just like the rest of the bride's maids. Lovina had chosen to have only three bride's maids: Feli, Elizabeta, and Emma. And since she had been like her big sister for most of her life, Cathy was her Maid of Honor. Lovina loved Feli to death, really, but she had always respected Cathy and they shared a common bond: keeping Antonio in line. Cathy was, surprisingly, ecstatic about being Maid of Honor. Funny, as Lovina had always thought her to be a reserved and calm person; in truth, she was just as lively as Antonio.

There was a knock at the door. "Hello?" Elizabeta called. "Hey! It's time!" Someone replied on the other side of the door. Lovina took several deep breaths as Elizabeta opened the door and Emma handed her her bouquet.

* * *

The wedding march music began and two double doors at the end of the aisle opened to reveal Elizabeta, followed by Feli, both clad in red, enter. The next person to enter was Lovina. She was the picture perfect, blushing bride. Her face was flushed and she avoided eye contact, but she was smiling, and when Lovina smiled…well, everyone in the church was breath taken. Behind her, her train was carried by Cathy, who was followed by Emma.

At the other end of the aisle, Antonio stood, beaming, in his tux and red tie. Beside him were Francis, Gilbert, his cousin Carlos, and Roderick—who he had only made his groomsman because he was Elizabeta's husband. The priest stood at the Alter, clad in black, smiling happily at the young couple.

After a few moments, Lovina made it to the Alter, where she stood at Antonio's side. From the corner of her eye, she looked him shyly, to which Antonio replied with a grin.

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to bear witness to the holy union between these two individuals: Antonio Ferdinand Fernandez-Carriedo and Lovina Katherine Vargas." The priest began when the wedding march music ended.

* * *

"By the power vested in me by God, I pronounce you Mr. and Mrs. Fernandez-Carriedo!" The priest announced. Lovina and Antonio turned around, Antonio grinning, Lovina blushing, and made their way down the aisle. Their guests rose and applauded as they passed, and from behind, Antonio was pretty sure he had heard Francis and Gilbert wolf-whistle.

The double doors of the church were opened, and Antonio and Lovina raced out, followed by a crowd of guests, to an awaiting black limo. Antonio opened up the door for Lovina and let her slip inside first. He followed suit. The couple watched the crowd of happy people for a few moments, both slightly amazed and extremely happy to see so many of their close friends and family celebrating their marriage. Still, Lovina's face was flushed bright red and she felt very, well, bashful about the whole thing. Antonio was the opposite; he was ready to climb on top of the highest building in town and scream how happy he was to be married to the love of his life, Lovina Vargas-Carriedo.

Oh, how he loved the sound of that. Which reminded him. Antonio turned away from the window and grabbed Lovina by the shoulders, surprising the already embarrassed Italian. Antonio pulled Lovina close and their lips touched gently and lovingly. After a few moments, they parted, Antonio beaming, Lovina blushing brighter than ever. "You look so cute, Mi Tomate." Antonio commented, pulling Lovina into a tight embrace, resting his head on her shoulder. "A-Antonio, don't be so stupid…" Lovina stammered.

"Hey, driver—take us to Gonzalez Apartments on Charles and Vinci." Antonio called to the driver up front. As the car began to pull away from the curb and into the street, Lovina pulled out of her husband's embrace and looked at him with confusion. "Why are we going your—" "Our." "_Our _apartment?" Lovina asked suspiciously. Antonio smirked at his wife and reached into one of his suit pockets. He pulled out something familiar…a condom. "I thought we might be a little late to the reception." Antonio said with a grin and a mischievous twinkle in his green eyes.

Lovina flushed with embarrassment and anger. "Y-you perverted bastard!" Lovina shouted, smacking Antonio on the arm and scooting away from her husband. "But Lovi~!" Antonio whined. "Driver, take us to the reception!" Lovina ordered. The driver began to change course. "Oh come on! We're married now—it's okay! Plus, I have condoms!" Antonio pleaded. "Stop whining, Antonio; we're waiting until tonight! Understood?" Lovina responded sternly. Antonio sighed and nodded his head.

"Can we make out at least?" He asked hopefully several moments later. "…" Lovina stayed silent. "Please?" Antonio asked with anticipation. Lovina fidgeted in her seat for a moment, but eventually, she nodded her head.

No sooner had she, Antonio pounced.

* * *

The reception hall was decorated mostly in white—white table cloths, white chairs—but there were red and gold accents as well—red and yellow rose center pieces, red place mats, gold—or rather, golden colored—utensils. It was simple and actually low budget; perfect for the young couple.

Antonio had used part of his trust fund money, and Lovina used some of her inheritance money from her parents' and grandfather's deaths. Still, their wedding was low budget and had taken some time setting up. The couple probably had a good hundred guests—Antonio's family, Lovina's family, and their friends of course—and the place was packed with lively chatter and dancing and music.

Lovina's cousins were a hand full. Francis was flirting with everything in a skirt that he wasn't blood related to and causing a general uproar among the parents at the party—at least the ones who had daughters over sixteen. Jose Vargas, Lovina's younger cousin and the only male Vargas left—save for Lovina's uncle, Jose's father—was causing a ruckus, bickering with Maria, Francis's little sister. Maria had also taken to making bets and had started a game of poker at the dinner table she was seated at. She had so far cleaned out almost everyone at the table. But somehow, she still managed to bicker back and forth with Jose. Lovina's aunt, Mrs. Vargas-Bonnefoy—she had hyphened her name after divorcing her husband, Francis and Maria's father—was drunk and dancing like an idiot. Lovina's uncle, Mr. Vargas, and his wife, were both passed out already, after, of course, obnoxiously cooing over one another. They were the type of couple that was so sickeningly sweet, you wanted to be beat your self with a baseball bat just watching them.

Francis had also brought along his step-sister, Michelle, and his former-foster sister, Margie—wait, no…Maggie? No, No, it was something like Margret, but not Margret. Oh, Oh! It was Marguerite! The girl's name was Marguerite! Anyways, Michelle was a total ditz in Lovina's opinion, but at least she wasn't causing that much trouble. However, she did seem to be acting a tad…foolish, thus annoying Lovina. Marguerite, or Meg, as Francis fondly called her, was quiet, possibly being the only well-behaved member of Lovina's extended family—although, she wasn't really Francis' foster sister anymore—but she had struck up an instant friendship with Antonio's cousin, Carlos. He had originally mistaken her as her sister, Amelia or something, but Meg had…well, punched him out. From there, they somehow had become friends, and had taken to getting drunk together in a corner, despite both being under aged.

Feliciana, bless her tomboyish little head, had gotten drunk on one glass of wine, slipped on the dance floor while trying to tango with a 87 year-old man, and had knocked her self out. She was taken to go sleep on a couch out in the lobby along with some other light-weights. Elizabeta, despite Roderick's efforts, had also gotten drunk, gotten into a fight with some dudes, beat the dudes up, and then passed out drunk. Roderick took her home early, greatly embarrassed. Emma, not having a boyfriend or any prospects, had brought along her brothers. Lars was a grump about the whole thing, of course, and Tim whined about needing to leave and go study—the kid was a workaholic—and Emma spent the entire evening dealing with both her brother's complaints. Cathy got drunk, which meant fun, Antonio-like Cathy came out. She complimented Antonio and Lovina all night long, danced like an idiot, and seemed to be the life of the party.

Antonio's family, which was insanely huge—thanks Grandpa and Grandma Carriedo for having a dozen kids who each had multiple children themselves—was crazy and fun, like Antonio and Cathy. To name a few of Antonio's twenty-sum cousins, there was Carlos, Rosa, and Consuelo. Carlos was portly and temperamental, see the incident with Meg, but also a big teddy bear. Rosa was a traditional girl, but she was also strong-willed, brave, and a tad bit, um, scary. Consuelo was a lively and easy-going girl, but she was also very prideful and determined. They were alike, but also different, and quite a bit like Antonio in some ways, but one thing all members of the Carriedo family had in common was this: they were all the worst drunks ever!

Carlos was an angry drunk who picked fights. If Meg hadn't of punched him in the eye, he probably would have gotten into a fist fight with one of the other guests—heck, he might even try to fight Antonio. Rosa wasn't as bad as Carlos or Consuelo, but she did have a penchant for giggling and saying stupid things while intoxicated. She would sling her arms around someone's shoulders, giggle obnoxiously, and slur her words as she tried to carry on something akin to a conversation with that person. She would at some point vomit, however, and pass out. Consuelo, when drunk, had a tendency to act like a party animal. As in, she would dance on top of tables, flirt, and was very, very lively.

But no matter who they were blood related to, whether it be Antonio or Lovina, Lovina couldn't stand any of them at the moment.

"Those sons of b*tches are ruining my wedding!" Lovina growled into Antonio's ear as they danced. "Oh come on, Lovi, they're just having some fun!" Antonio protested. Lovina jammed her heel into his foot. "Ow! Ow! Lovina, stop that! It hurts!" Antonio cried. Lovina took her heel away and scowled over Antonio's shoulder at her family—blood and in-laws. "They're all drunken messes…they're acting like my wedding reception is some stupid house party or something…" Lovina said; her voice carried a tone of sadness. Antonio hugged Lovina closely as they danced. "Lovi, I'm so sorry…do you want to kick them out?" Antonio asked. He wanted his family to be part of his and his new bride's special day, but if they were upsetting Lovina, he could do well without them. But Lovina shook her head and buried her face in Antonio's shoulder. "No, no…let's just leave early. It's late and half the guests are passed out anyway." Lovina conceded.

Antonio nodded and pulled out of his wife's embrace. The couple separated as Antonio went to his father to tell him what was going on and Lovina went to gather her bouquet.

* * *

"Okay, ladies! It's time to toss the bouquet!" Mr. Carriedo announced. Almost immediately, a crowd of single and unmarried women were crowded behind Lovina, who stood on top of a chair in the reception hall. She was facing away from them, the bouquet clasped tightly in her hands. Antonio, the other men, and the married women stood off to the side, watching.

Feliciana and the other light-weights had been awakened to participate, however they hall seemed either still slight drunk or hung over already. The crowd consisted of a few of Lovina's closer school friends, her cousin Maria, Maria's step-sister, Michelle, Meg, Feliciana, Cathy, Rosa, Consuelo, and few other female cousins of Antonio. Most, if not all, were giddy with excitement; Meg and Maria both seemed slightly less eager than the others, but both did have some soft smiles on their faces.

Lovina, as she was about to toss the bouquet over her head, prayed silently for one thing: please don't let Feliciana catch it. "Okay! Ready? Go on and toss it Lovina!" Mr. Carriedo shouted. Lovina tossed the bouquet over her head and sent into the air. As it fell in an arch, the arch was disrupted by jumping girls and grabby hands. The bouquet of white and yellow roses, wrapped in red ribbon, bounced over the crowd as the woman fought for hold of it. Then, as the bouquet tumbled towards the edge of the crowd, two small hands clasped the stems of the roses in a gentle, but firm grip. Some girls made of last futile attempt to grab it but failed. It was over, Meg had caught the bouquet.

The other girls moaned with jealousy as Meg shyly held the bouquet up over head, showing that she was the winner. Meanwhile, Lovina turned around and stepped off of the chair and was quickly joined by Antonio. "Thank God, I was worried that Feli was going to catch it." Lovina mumbled to her self. Antonio laughed next to her. "I think Little Feli is a bit too giggly right now to even know what just happened." Antonio commented. He pointed over, then, to a tipsy Feliciana, who was carrying on a rather one-sided conversation with a decorative plant. "That idiota…" Lovina said with a fond smile.

A few hours later, Antonio and Lovina were on the open road, heading out of town. It was dark out, passed midnight, and boring as hell. The newlyweds were heading to the coast to stay the weekend at the Carriedo family's summer villa. Antonio's family hadn't spent the summer there since he had been in middle school, and instead, some of Antonio's relatives had used it from time to time. But now, it would serve as Antonio and Lovina's home until fall.

It was nearly morning when Antonio's car pulled up the driveway of the seaside villa. It was in a traditional Spanish style, and while the landscape was a little over grown due to lack of maintenance, it was still lush and beautiful in the moonlight. Lovina could already smell the salty sea air and hear the waves hitting the beach in the distance.

Antonio got out of the car first and opened the door for Lovina. But before she could get out of the car, Antonio had plucked her up from her seat and was carrying her bridal style to the front door of the villa. "What are you doing?" Lovina asked tiredly. She just wanted to fall asleep right then and there in Antonio's arms. "It's our wedding night, Lovi. You know what that means." Antonio said. His voice was tired as well, but Lovina guess that his sex drive was wide awake. Still…

"Bastard…I'm sleepy…" Lovina yawned. Antonio chuckled and smiled down at the woman in his arms. "Not for long, Mi Amor." Antonio said with a smirk. Lovina flushed bright red as Antonio opened the door and carried her inside.


	11. Chapter 11

Hetalia AU: Baby Stories

Story One: Antonio/Lovina

Chapter 11: The First Year

Note: I Own Nothing

Emma—Belgium

Lars—Netherlands

Tim—Luxemburg

Lovina's aunt—Francis' mother

Maria—Monaco

Jose—Seborga

Lovina's uncle and his wife—Jose's parents

Jeanne—Joan of Arc

Michelle—Seychelles

Marguerite/Meg—Canada

Carlos—Cuba

Rosa—Mexico

Consuelo—Puerto Rico

**The First Year**

**Fall (Antonio-22; Senior (college), Lovina-19)**

Several weeks after their wedding, Antonio and Lovina returned to their hometown, but not to Antonio's apartment. They returned to a new apartment.

It was in an old red brick building near U.N.U campus and only a few blocks from the café Antonio worked at. It was about the same as Antonio's old apartment, except it was updated in the last decade, so no more ugly orange carpet and God awful fixtures, which Lovina thanked God for several times at mass. They still had all of Antonio's old furniture—his old green couch, leather armchair, stained coffee table, etc—though, so Lovina still had that to agonize over. But, thankfully, her things were brought in, too: her vanity mirror for the dresser, her shoe rack for the closet, her punching bag—a gift from Elizabeta actually—etc—so she was content at least.

Except for one thing…one thing that she despised above all…during their honeymoon, Antonio found something…he found it…he found…Rico…

Rico was a God awful, mangy terrier that Antonio had found while grocery shopping one day. He had brought it back to the villa, bathed it, fed it, named it, and had become attached to it, and all in a matter of an hour and a half. By the time Lovina was made aware of the mutt's existence, it was too late, Antonio was in-love with the little demon.

The main reason they had moved actually, was because Antonio wanted to keep Rico and his old building wouldn't allow pets. While Lovina liked the new apartment, she was not fond of her new roommate. The overgrown rat shed far too much for such a small dog, crawled into their bed at night, and worst of all, stole Antonio from Lovina.

* * *

"Okay, Rico," Lovina seethed. "Drop the shirt." She ordered the little monster. Rico held one of Lovina's shirts in his mouth, chewing on it, and looking at Lovina as if she were some foreign creature from outer space. The little monster had grabbed it from the laundry basket when she had set it down for a moment—literally, 60 seconds—to pick up the ringing phone in the kitchen. Turned out to be a wrong number, which was annoying enough, but when Lovina returned to the living room, the sight before her—the damn demon dog chewing on her precious clothes—snapped at least three of her nerves.

"Give it back, you little bastard, or I'll shave you!" Lovina growled. Apparently, Rico took that as a legitimate threat, because the little f*ck took off running with the shirt into the bedroom and under the bed. "Oh no you don't!" Lovina shouted, chasing after the dog. She crouched down by the bed and proceeded to bend over and look under it for the offending dog.

Meanwhile, Antonio lay sprawled out on the living room couch, the door to the bedroom wide open, giving him a nice view of his wife's *ss. "Thank you, mi Amiga." Antonio whispered thankfully under his breath to his dog.

* * *

"I'm going to kill it!" Lovina growled as she glared at Rico's shaking form. The little dog was currently cowering under the coffee table, covered in mud. The little rat had escaped the apartment a few hours ago, having squeezed out the front door as Antonio left for class that morning. A few moments ago, Lovina had opened the door to find the little bastard scratching at the door with muddy little paws. He had then raced in-between Lovina's legs and inside, tracking mud into the apartment as he did.

Rico knew that what he had done was bad, seeing as he was hiding, and this time, he had gone too far. "I just cleaned the house, you little son of a b*tch!" Lovina cursed. Rico whined in fear. Granted, Lovina could never bring her self to actually hurt the little dog—he was cute, Lovina would admit—but this was too much. Lovina had grabbed a flip flop from her closet and planned to give the dog a good smack on his tail-end when she got a hold of him.

Suddenly, however, Rico bolted from under the table, right past Lovina, and into the bedroom and—oh God no! Rico ran into the open closet! "Rico! If you ruin my clothes, I'll kill you!" Lovina shouted in horror, chasing after the mutt.

* * *

"Don't feed it your scraps!" Lovina chastised her husband. Antonio pouted, and instead of giving Rico the piece of pizza crust as he had intended, he put it back on his plate obediently. "But look, Lovina, he's begging! Look; how cute!" Antonio protested, gesturing down to the little dog at his feet. Rico was on his hind-legs, wagging his tail, giving Antonio his best puppy-dog eyes.

"If you give him scraps, he'll get a taste for people food, Antonio. Then he won't eat his dog food." Lovina explained as if Antonio was a child. "But—" "No scraps." Lovina stated sternly. Antonio pouted as Rico whined at his feet in dismay. "Okay, Lovi, no scraps." Antonio conceded. After a few more moments of whining, Rico concede defeat as well, and retreated to his doggy-bed in Antonio and Lovina's bedroom.

* * *

Lovina may have disliked Rico, but despite it all, he had become part of the fabric of her life now.

Since they had been married, Antonio and Lovina's lives had changed.

They both lived somewhere new, Antonio had been promoted to assistant manager at the café, he was about to graduate with a degree in business. Lovina had gone from socialite to housewife, but it almost seemed natural for her. She had no desire to become a businesswoman or anything, nor did she really care for working, as her brief job at the café had proved. It seemed that she was born to be a matriarch.

Antonio still had no clue what to do, though. He would be graduating in less than a year, yet he still had no idea what he was going to do with his degree. He couldn't work at the café his whole life, and while he did still have a lot of money in the bank from his trust fund and inheritance, he wasn't going to be a mooch is whole life and leech off of it until ran out. Antonio needed to do some soul searching, figure out what he wanted to do with his life.

He wanted to do something he loved; but what did he love, Antonio asked his self. Lovina, of course—but he did her all the time (every night). His family, but he really couldn't make a living off of them…well, he could, but is would be wrong and Antonio loved them too much. Gardening, but that wasn't exactly a well-paying job. Animals, but he wasn't trained or equipped to be a vet. Music and playing guitar, he owned a guitar and could sing, but he was no performer. Soccer, he loved it, but he didn't really see himself doing it for a living. Wine, well, that was something. Antonio's family owned a vineyard—hell, he had grown up with one literally in his backyard. He knew everything about wine—how it was made, how to sell it, how to price it, how to taste it—Antonio could even guess a brand and vintage just my taking a sip, something he and Francis had in common.

Carriedo Industries was a local company, owned by the Carriedo family that produced luxury items like fine wine, cigars, clothes, and perfumes. They owned multiple vineyards, had branches all over the world, and were very successful. Miguel Cortez-Carriedo, Antonio's father, was CEO of the company, while his many younger siblings ran branches of it. His sister, Antonio's aunt and Carlos's mother, ran the cigar-manufacturing branch in Cuba—she never spent much time with Carlos as a result—and Miguel's other younger siblings ran similar branches—the clothing branch, the produce and spice branch, the restaurant branch, the perfume branch—every member of the family had a hand in the business.

Antonio's grandfather, Ferdinand Rivera-Carriedo, was the one who made the business into what it was today. At first, it had simply been a family vineyard, but Ferdinand turned it into something more; he expanded the business and turned it into a success. The Carriedo family had been in the wine business for three generations before he came along, and it still was, as Antonio's father still ran the vineyard on the Carriedo Estate. But maybe, soon it would be Antonio's turn to run the vineyard.

* * *

"Papa," Antonio began. "I've been thinking…" He said hesitantly. He was seated in his father's office at Carriedo Estate. His father, Mr. Carriedo, was sitting behind his desk, looking over last quarter's sales. "What about, Antonio?" Mr. Carriedo asked, never taking his brown eyes off the document in his hands. "About your age…" Antonio said tentatively. Mr. Carriedo set down the document on his hard-oak desk and looked at his son with irritation. "What about it?" He asked, clearly annoyed by the mention of his age.

"Well, Papa, you are almost fifty—" "Don't say it!" Mr. Carriedo snapped. His hands were now on his graying hair, as if he could hide his age that way. "But Papa, you're 53 years old! Cathy's 23! I'm 22! Lovina's graduated—we're married, too!" Antonio insisted. "I know that!" Mr. Carriedo protested, quickly becoming uncomfortable with the subject of his age. "Papa, I think it's time for you to start thinking about retirement." Antonio suggested gently. Mr. Carriedo sighed and slumped in his chair.

"Am I really that old…? It seems like just yesterday that Cathy was running around in the sprinklers with her hair up in little pigtails while you made mud-pies nearby in only your diaper." Mr. Carriedo said wistfully. "Isabella…it's been so long…hasn't it…" Mr. Carriedo muttered under his breath. Antonio sat quietly, feeling sad and guilty for bringing up the subject of age.

"Antonio," Mr. Carriedo began, his voice stronger and more confident than it was moments ago. "I was 20 years old when my father died," He said. "He left me with three four younger brothers and two younger sisters, along with a mourning widow, my mother." Mr. Carriedo got up from his desk and walked over to a cupboard on the other side of the office. "I had only two years of college under my belt and no experience running a business, but I managed. I made sure all my younger siblings went to college and never wanted for anything, made sure my mother lived comfortably until her death when you were two, and I even found the time to fall in love with your mother along the way and marry her. Those were the hardest years of my life, Antonio. Do you know why?" Mr. Carriedo asked as he brought a bottle of wine and two glasses out of the cupboard. "No, sir." Antonio said with a shake of his head. "It was hard because I didn't have my father to lean on—I had no one to lean on." Mr. Carriedo answered. He poured him self and Antonio a glass of wine then, and handed Antonio his glass as he retook his seat at his desk. Neither man took a drink.

"When you graduate this spring, Antonio, you're going to come and work for me at the company." Mr. Carriedo stated. "What? Really?" Antonio asked with sudden excitement, almost jumping out of his seat and spilling his wine. "Yes, really. That's what you came here for, right?" Mr. Carriedo asked with a grin and a wink. Antonio blushed at how he had been figured out so easily. "I was your age once, too, Antonio, always remember that. And when I was your age, I really wished I had had my father to help me out along the way." Mr. Carriedo said as he raised his glass for a cheers. Antonio gently knocked his glass against his father's, a grin plastered on his face.

**Winter**

"Roderick likes it rough?" Feli asked disbelievingly. "Yeah, rough…" Elizabeta trailed off, a blush coating her features. There was no doubt of what was going on in her head at that moment. "What about you, Sorella?" Feliciana asked her sister. "What?" Lovina asked confusedly. "What about yours and Antonio's sex life?" Feli asked. Suddenly, Elizabeta had her full attention on the Italian sisters again.

Lovina was speechless as a tomato-red blush that Antonio would have loved spread over her cheeks. "Well…um…t-that's none of your business, really…" Lovina stammered. Her sister and friend grinned at her mischievously. "Oh come on! You can tell us anything, Lovina!" Elizabeta urged, leering at the younger female. "What are you two into? Bondage? Role-play?" She asked with a lecherous grin. "No! No!" Lovina protested. "S&M? Pegging? Biting? Blood-play?" Elizabeta continued. Lovina flushed a few shades darker. "No, you idiota!" She protested. "Come on, Sorella, tell us!" Feli urged far more gently than Elizabeta. Lovina took a big gulp of air and stammered out, "H-Hair p-p-pulling…"

Elizabeta and Lovina went silent until Elizabeta asked moments later. "Whose hair gets pulled?" Lovina avoided eye-contact as she answered, "M-mine." More silence. "Do you like it?" Feli asked. "Y-yeah…I like it…a lot…" Lovina answered. A moment later, Elizabeta and Feliciana burst out laughing. A few moments after that, Lovina kicked them out.

* * *

"Oh, Lovi, look at how cute he is!" Antonio cooed at the small sleeping toddler on their couch. His name was Jasper and he was actually their neighbor's son. His parents were going out on a date night, so Antonio had volunteered his self and Lovina to baby sit. "Yes, yes, he's very cute. But be quiet or you'll wake him." Lovina chastised, pulling Antonio out of the living room and into the kitchen to help her cook dinner. They didn't need to worry about Rico disturbing Jasper, as they had locked the dog in their bedroom for the night.

About an hour later, dinner—lasagna—was ready. "Hey, Jasper," Lovina said in a soft, gentle, an uncharacteristic voice to the sleeping toddler. He gently shook his tiny shoulder, trying to wake the boy. "Jasper, sweet heart, time for dinner." Lovina insisted. Groggily, the toddler opened his eyes and looked at Lovina confusedly. "I'm tired." The little boy said sleepily as he rubbed his eyes. "I know, but it's time to eat." Lovina said in a gentle voice to Jasper. Gently, Lovina picked Jasper up off the couch and set him down on his feet on the floor. With Jasper now standing, Lovina took him by the hand and led him to the small dinner table in the on the other side of the room, near the kitchen door.

Lovina helped Jasper tiredly climb into one of the chairs and then retreated into the kitchen to make his plate. When she returned, she found probably the cutest thing she had ever seen. Jasper had climbed onto the table while she had been gone, laid down, and fallen asleep again. The little boy was curled up like a cat and Lovina couldn't help up giggle at the sight. "Antonio," Lovina called over her shoulder into the kitchen. "Come look!" Antonio was by her side almost instantly. "Oh my God, that is the cutest thing I have ever seen!" Antonio cheered. But before he could snap a picture with his camera to show to Jasper's parents later, Lovina had already approached the sleeping boy and began waking him up again.

"You can't go to sleep yet, sweetie. You have to eat and take a bath, first, okay?" Lovina said softly as she put the boy in his chair once, again. This time, Antonio brought the boy's plate and set it before him. "Eat up, mi amigo!" He said with cheer. Tiredly, Jasper picked up his fork and sloppily took a bite of lasagna. Lovina never took her eyes off of Jasper throughout the meal, keeping a careful eye on the fork in his hands and how big of bites he was taking. Antonio was very cheerful; he loved kids, he loved Lovina, and together, they made the cutest, most endearing situation ever. Antonio briefly wondered what it would be like when he and Lovina had children of their own—because, of course, they would definitely have kids someday, Antonio had no doubt.

Lovina, however, was on edge about the entire situation. Lovina liked kids, yes; she could never be as surly to a child as she was to others, and she was far more patient with them than she was adults. But taking care of Jasper for a few hours was already stressing her out. She worried about everything—will that hurt him? Can he eat that? Is this healthy? Is that safe? She was turning into a f*cking neurotic and Jasper wasn't even her kid. Lovina almost dreaded the day she'd have kids of her own to worry about 24-7.

* * *

"What do you mean that I spend too much?" Lovina said angrily. Antonio had been balancing his checkbook for this month when he had commented—rudely in Lovina's opinion—that she spent too much money at the mall. "I'm just saying that you could stand to be a bit more frugal!" Antonio protested. "I am frugal! I only buy things that are on sale!" Lovina shot back. "But you buy_ anything_ that's on sale!" Antonio said. "How am I supposed to know if it'll ever be priced that low again—it's called being 'better safe, than sorry', Antonio!" Lovina said with a huff. "First off, you used that phrase completely wrong; second, since when will you be safer with two-hundred and one scarves rather than just two-hundred, Lovina?" Antonio asked, his voice raised. "I-I don't know! Maybe when a freak blizzard hits and everyone is freezing but me, because I bought so many scarves!" Lovina fumbled out. "That doesn't make any sense!" Antonio said.

"Shut up, bastard!" Lovina shouted. "Why should I?" Antonio asked angrily. "Because I said so!" Lovina growled. "Since when do _I_ listen to _you?_ I wear the pants in their relationship, Lovina! I make the money!" Antonio shouted. "Oh, you did not just say that, you son of a—" "Don't you dare finish that sentence!" Antonio growled.

Lovina smirked at him and said, _"B*tch~!"_ Antonio's fists went white-knuckled as he shouted, "You are such a b*tch sometimes, you know that Lovina!" Lovina gaped at him before slapping him hard across the face. "Ow! What the Hell, Lovina?!" Antonio asked. "You idiota! I swear to God if you ever say that to me again, I'll—" "You'll what, Lovina? Curse me, run away, leave me, what? What will you do?" Antonio asked, cupping his injured cheek and giving Lovina a hard face. Lovina went silent and after several moments, she calmed enough to say, "Whatever…"

Lovina stomped into their bedroom and locked the door. Antonio slept on the couch for the next few nights. They made up after three days, but this fight was a clear indication of the end of their honeymoon phase.

* * *

"So when am I going to be a grandfather?" Mr. Carriedo asked the couple on Christmas day when they came to visit him at Carriedo Estate. Mrs. Lopez, who had been handing out refreshments, along with Cathy, and a few other close members of the Carriedo family, looked at the couple expectantly.

"Um…Uh, I—well, you see—" Lovina stammered, a red hot blush covering her face. "Soon, hopefully!" Antonio answered with glee, however. Startled by his words, Lovina looked at Antonio with surprise. The rest of the room seemed to explode with enthusiasm at the statement, however. Everyone seemed very happy at the prospect of Antonio and Lovina having children. Lovina, however, was not.

"Antonio," Lovina started on the car-drive home. "I don't want children." She blurted it out, her gaze firmly on the scenery outside the passenger side window. "What?" Antonio asked, totally flabbergasted. "What I mean to say is…I don't want them yet." Lovina explained tentatively. In the driver's seat, Antonio sighed in disappointment. "But I was really hoping that we could have a little Antonio or Lovina Junior running around soon." He moped. "Well, it's my body, Antonio!" Lovina replied with some bite in her voice this time. "Yeah, you're right, Lovi." Antonio conceded, though he was clearly upset at Lovina's words.

Several moments passed before Lovina asked, "How soon?" Antonio looked at her blushing face with confusion. "How soon what?" He asked. Lovina looked uncomfortable and her face flushed redder. "How soon did you want an Antonio or Lovina Junior?" She asked. Antonio grinned and let out a laugh. "As soon as possible, Lovi!" He said with cheer. Lovina gaped at her husband. "Idiota! I'm only 19!" Lovina shouted in objection.

"But Lovi~, I want to have a family with you as soon as possible~!" Antonio whined in complaint. "Why so soon, though?" Lovina asked in a mix of aggravation and embarrassment. Antonio and the air of the car both became solemn quite suddenly. "Because…well, it's hard to explain…" Antonio said, taking a deep breath. "My mother died when she was 35 years old when her car was hit by a drunk driver…she was perfectly healthy according to Papa, married and had two small children, me and my sister…her life had only just begun really; she was a wife and mother, she had so much to look forward to…mine and Cathy's graduations, weddings, grandchildren…but then it was all gone. In a blink of an eye, she was gone; she was dead and everything changed. None of that would ever happen for her, she would never be able to see or experience those things, Lovina." Antonio explained. Tears were forming in his green eyes now.

"So…you want to live it up and have kids before something happens to one of us?" Lovina asked, her voice full of concern. Antonio nodded hesitantly. "Antonio," Lovina said in a gentle tone. "Nothing will happen to us, we're not going to die young—" "What about Jeanne?" Antonio asked, cutting Lovina off. "Francis was going to propose to her that summer—he had even gone to her father and asked for her hand and everything—but then there was that stupid party and that fire happened, and…and she couldn't get out…what about her, Lovina? She and Francis had their whole lives ahead of them; together forever, everyone thought! But no, Lovina, that's not how it works! Jeanne died, Francis—despite what he says—is still heartbroken, and nothing will ever be the same!" Antonio shouted. Now, the tears were falling. Lovina felt a pang of grief in her heart at the sight. "Lovina," Antonio sobbed. "If that happened to you, to us…I don't know what I would do…" Antonio cried.

The rest of the drive was silent and heavy with grief.

When they arrived that their apartment, Rico meeting them at the door with glee, Lovina had this to say: "Three years…Three years, and I'll be willing to start trying for a baby…Okay, Antonio?" Antonio's answer was a thankful embrace and a kiss.

**Spring (Antonio-22; Senior (college), Lovina—20)**

"So~, you're taking a…pottery class?" Antonio asked skeptically. Lovina only nodded her head as she examined the pamphlets in her hands. "Well, maybe," She corrected a moment later, however. "I'm torn between cooking classes, pottery, and knitting, actually." She explained. "Tell me again why you're signing up for any those in the first place." Antonio requested with confusion. "I'm bored—this place is too easy to clean anymore, seriously. It takes me an hour, tops, to clean this entire apartment once a day—hell, even Rico manages not to make a mess of this place! I can only spend so much time at the gym, too. Seriously, have you seen my legs lately—they are too f*cking muscular!" Lovina complained, clearly not finding the new shape of her legs attractive. Antonio, internally, disagreed, however.

"But why take classes at the community center?" Antonio asked. He knew Lovina had other hobbies—she still like soccer and kept up to date on her favorite teams, she loved gardening, cooking, and was fond of fashion—so why did she feel the need to find a new one. "Because I don't want to be some useless housewife!" was Lovina's odd reply. "What? A 'useless housewife'?" Antonio asked, completely taken off guard.

"Elizabeta was saying last week about how useless she feels as a housewife because she can't do things like cook Roderick big homemade meals, re-stitch his clothes, or make flower arrangements for the dinner table—like a proper lady, she said. All she can do is clean and cook basic meals. Now look what happened between her and Roderick—I refuse to let that happen to us, Antonio!" Lovina ranted as she flipped through the pamphlet in her hand. "Lovi, I don't think not being able to arrange some flowers will ruin our marriage, mi tomate—" "I refuse! I will not be useless, Antonio! Do you hear me! I refuse!" Lovina said with aggravation, suddenly scowling at him. "Yes, yes," Antonio conceded with a sigh. "I understand."

Lovina, in the end, chose pottery.

* * *

"Come on," Francis urged. "It's your last spring break, Antonio. You didn't go last year, so I refuse to allow you not to attend this year!" Antonio simply shook his head. "Francis, I don't think Lovina would like for me to go out partying for two weeks." Antonio said. "But mon ami, she can come as well! We can get her a fake ID and bring her along!" Francis said. "But Lovi doesn't like alcohol…or drunk people…or you and Gilbert that much!" Antonio protested.

"Oh come on! She'll have Elda and Emma to hang out with, right, Francis?" Gilbert said. "Yes, Emma just turned 21 and she's coming along, too!" Francis said with a vigorous nod. Antonio looked to be getting more uncomfortable by the second. "But Lovi—" "Oh my God! Is this really happening _again?_" Gilbert asked with exasperation. Antonio raised an eyebrow at his friend. "What's happening again?" He asked curiously. "You're letting her run your life again!" Gilbert snapped. "What are you—" "Remember our junior and senior year? You totally let her control everything you did!" Gilbert explained, cut off Antonio's question. "But now Lovi's my wife!" Antonio protested.

"Exactly!" Gilbert exclaimed with triumph. Francis and Antonio looked at his with raised eyebrows and surprise. Gilbert's shoulders sank at the sight and he then explained, "Marriage isn't about who controls who; it's about sharing. Everything you do is shared; chores, money, time, and most importantly, your lives. One person can't always have final say in what the other does, Antonio. You always go to Lovina for permission for almost everything you do; now, I think it's your turn to do something without her permission." Antonio and Francis looked shocked at how…wise their friend sounded for a moment, before Antonio shook him self and said, "But I can't just force her to go!" "Then don't, Antonio!" Francis interjected. "Convince her—pester her, kiss up to her, just don't go down with out a fight this time, my friend!" Francis suggested.

A week later, two days before the trip, Antonio came back to his friends with good news. "She said she would go!" Antonio said with glee. The friends cheered and shared a group hug. They got wasted at Francis' apartment to celebrate.

* * *

Spring Break was fun, Lovina would admit after she, Antonio, Gilbert, Elda, Emma, Lars, Francis, and some random girl Francis brought along, all returned from their little vacation. Sure, Lovina spent most of her time at the beach or window shopping, but she did go to a few concerts with the guys along with the other girls, and Antonio and his friends had succeeded in getting Lovina to drink a few times. Overall, it had been fun.

However, shortly after they came back, problems arose.

"One hundred and two." Lovina said with a grimace as she read the temperature aloud. Antonio simply groaned from where he lay in bed, covered in multiple blankets and his face sickly pale. "Oh, Antonio…" Lovina mumbled, sitting on the edge of the bed, taking a rag and wiping Antonio's face free of sweat. Lovina remembered that when she was sick as a little girl, Mrs. Lopez would pile on the blankets to keep her warm and she would sweat bucket fulls and Mrs. Lopez would wipe it away gently. She always felt better really quickly after Mrs. Lopez took care of her, and she was hoping that Antonio would get better soon using the same methods.

"Are you hungry, Antonio?" Lovina asked her husband softly. Antonio gave a weak nod. Lovina left the bedroom hesitantly to go make Antonio some chicken soup.

Three days passed, and Antonio didn't get any better. Lovina was extremely worried at this point.

"Antonio, do you feel any better?" Lovina asked hopefully on the fifth day of his illness as she sat at his bedside. Antonio could only weakly shake his head.

His symptoms were all still there by the end of the week: Fever, headache, stomach ache, fatigue, and nausea. None of it had gone away or gotten better it seemed. Lovina felt like a horrible wife for not even being able to nurse her husband back to health from a f*cking cold. She was a failure, she internally cursed as she watched Antonio suffer through his illness one day.

Lovina had tried for over a week to cure Antonio of his sickness, and now it was time to concede defeat. She clearly needed the help of a veteran. On the tenth day of Antonio's sickness, Lovina called Mrs. Lopez to come and help her.

Antonio was better only a few days later thanks to Mrs. Lopez, much to Lovina's shame. However, the elder woman did try to assure Lovina that she did nothing wrong and that sometimes the only thing you can do for a cold is wait it out and make sure the ill person is taken care of until the sickness has run its course. Lovina still felt like she had failed somehow.

If she couldn't help Antonio get better from a cold, how was she supposed to take care of a child someday?

* * *

Antonio's graduation came around, and Antonio graduated with a degree in business and a job already in-line for him at his father's company Carriedo Ind. It was a simply assistant's job working for his father, learning the ropes of the business and such, but it paid better than his job at the café.

It was a nine to five job, which both Antonio and Lovina were happy for; no more sporadic work and class schedules to work with, so that meant more time for one another. Or, as Francis bluntly put it, more time for romance, sex, and love.

Lovina punched him in the face.

**Summer **

"So what are you getting Antonio for his birthday, Lovi?" Feli asked. It was a few weeks before Antonio's birthday, and Lovina had once again made the mistake of inviting her sister and Elizabeta over to the apartment for lunch. "I don't know yet." Lovina said absently as she petted Rico, who lay curled up in her lap. In the past few months, Lovina had grown fond of the little furry bastard. "What?!" Elizabeta and Feli asked, totally flabbergasted.

Lovina shrugged and explained, "I just don't know what to get him, okay? Right now, I'm caught between getting him that new guitar he's had his eye on, maybe make him something, like a clay vase in my pottery class, or just make him a special dinner. What do you think?" Lovina asked. Feli and Elizabeta looked at her like she was hopeless. "So…that's it? No big event? No giant party?! No special surprise?! Lovina, that is too bland!" Elizabeta said with exasperation. Lovina felt the urge to slap the Hungarian right then. "What's wrong with my gift ideas, b*tch?" Lovina growled. "What Elizabeta means to say is," Feli interjected, trying to keep the peace. "That this is his first birthday since you guys got married, you should do something special!" Lovina scoffed. "All I got for my birthday was new clothes and some gift cards!" Lovina said. "What else would you have wanted?" Elizabeta asked. Lovina was silent.

"My idea: hardcore kinky birthday sex!" Elizabeta suggested bluntly. "Elizabeta!" Feliciana shouted taken aback as Lovina blushed redder than a tomato and gaped at the elder woman. "S-Shut up, you b*tch!" Lovina managed to stammer out.

* * *

Lovina, in the end, got Antonio the guitar.

"Oh my God, Lovina, thank you!" Antonio cheered, hugging Lovina tightly. It was late on the night of his birthday and they had just gotten back from his birthday party at his favorite bar. It was a nice party, all of Antonio's friends and family had shone up, everyone had had fun, and most, if not all, the guest had gotten drunk off their asses. Antonio had gotten plenty of gifts which the couple had dragged up to their apartment and put on the dinner table until they could put them all away properly.

Lovina had waited until now, however, to give Antonio his new guitar.

"I hope it's the right one." Lovina commented as Antonio tested the strings and tuned it. "It's perfect, mi tomate!" Antonio exclaimed, leaning over and kissing Lovina. "This is the best present anyone has ever given me, thank you!" Antonio said earnestly. Lovina felt herself blush slightly and Antonio, noticing this, gave a small chuckle.

"I also have another present for you, though…" Lovina commented shyly, her face flushing even redder. "Oh, what is it?" Antonio asked curiously. Lovina simply got up off the couch and strode into the bedroom. When Antonio didn't follow, she peeked her head out, this time only in her underwear and asked, "Aren't you coming?" Antonio looked at Lovina in surprise for a moment, before putting his new guitar down on the coffee table, and approached the bedroom with a grin. "I will be!" He said as he closed the bedroom door behind his self.

The next time they had lunch together, Lovina thanked Elizabeta for her suggestion.

* * *

Not long after Antonio's birthday, his and Lovina's first wedding anniversary arrived…

So, of course, they had a party!

They invited Mr. Carriedo, Cathy, Feliciana, Antonio's friends (+ Elda, of course), and Elizabeta over to their apartment for dinner. It was cramped, yes, but not annoyingly so; more, close-knit and comfortable.

They sat around the table, packed like sardines, chattering about useless things like what happened to so-and-so at work yesterday, and who had the hots for who. Gilbert playfully teased Francis about being the only single one left in their old trio. Elda and Elizabeta seemed to be having an endless conversation about their marriages—or, in Elizabeta's case, divorce. Francis shamelessly flirted with Cathy, ignoring Gilbert as best he could. Feli and Mr. Carriedo seemed to be conversing nicely, and Cathy seemed occupied with trying to get the point across to Francis that she wasn't interested. Meanwhile, Antonio and Lovina were on cloud-nine, celebrating a year of ups and downs together.

A year together as husband and wife…


	12. Chapter 12

Hetalia AU: Baby Stories

Story One: Antonio/Lovina

Chapter 12: Parenthood Approaching

Note: I Own Nothing

Emma—Belgium

Lars—Netherlands

Tim—Luxemburg

Lovina's aunt—Francis' mother

Maria—Monaco

Jose—Seborga

Lovina's uncle and his wife—Jose's parents

Jeanne—Joan of Arc

Michelle—Seychelles

Marguerite/Meg—Canada

Carlos—Cuba

Rosa—Mexico

Consuelo—Puerto Rico

Elda—Fem!Brandenburg

**Parenthood Approaching**

**Fall (Antonio-23; Lovina-20)**

A few weeks after their anniversary, the young couple had a dilemma while in bed…

"Wait—we're out of—" Antonio said with ragged breath.

"F-forget—forget about it! I-I—I need—" Lovina gasped.

"A-Are you sure?" Antonio asked, surprised by her words.

"Yes, bastard!" She practically screamed.

And like the thick-headed fool he was, Antonio believed her and that night, the couple did the unthinkable: they played without a goalie.

* * *

A few weeks later…

"Hey, Lovi, what do you want for breakfast?" Antonio asked on weekend morning as he got out of bed. As he slipped on some pajamas pants over his tomato-print boxers, his young wife was just stirring from her slumber. Lovina sat up slowly at first, mumbling a complaint about how early it was. But then, Lovina gagged a little, and a moment later, she bolted up from her side of the bed and out the bedroom door, leaving Antonio stunned.

"Lovina!" Antonio called, following after her a moment later, Rico circling at his feet. He found Lovina in the bathroom down the hall, hunched over the toilet. He could hear her gag and the vomit hit the water of the toilet. It sounded gross, any one would admit, but Antonio, forever uncaring of the little things, approached Lovina's hunched over and asked, "Are you okay, Lovi?" Lovina, in-between gags, managed to respond, "D-Do I look—l-look okay, b-bastard?" Antonio was pleased that she was at least okay enough to be her usual self.

When the vomiting had passed, Antonio escorted Lovina into the living room and sat her down on the couch. "Do need something?" Antonio asked. "Yeah. Some ginger-ale or Pepto-Bismol, or something." Lovina answered with a groan. "And something to eat, too." She added as she got up from the couch. "Hey, don't get up so suddenly, you may get sick again!" Antonio chastised. Lovina waved him off. "I'm fine; oh, and reheat up some of that left over lasagna from last night for breakfast, okay?" Lovina said, making her way back to the bathroom. "What are you doing?" Antonio asked curiously. "Brushing my teeth, dumb*ss, my mouth tastes like puke." Lovina said dismissively. And with that, the bathroom door shut behind her, leaving Antonio caught between worry and compliance with his possibly ill wife's commands.

* * *

A week passed, and almost every morning, almost as soon as she awoke, Lovina would become ill, and if not in the morning, when she woke up, then later, perhaps after breakfast or while doing the dishes or even while brushing her teeth. It wouldn't just be in the morning, either. It happened multiple times throughout the day; Lovina was barely able to keep down her food down.

Lovina, of course, grew more and more irritable. The vomiting was becoming a nuisance—it happened when she was cleaning, when she was eating, when she was relaxing, when she was walking the f*cking dog—and it was p*ssing her off. Worst of all, people were starting to notice!

Like one time she was grocery shopping at the market down the street. She was making her way down the canned food aisle, her heels clicking against the linoleum, her matching purse in the child's seat of the cart, and several items in her cart. She scanned the shelves for the needed items on her list, wrinkling her nose at the canned ravioli. She was at peace, in a way; no worries except for finding a can of lima beans, and to remember to grab some fresh lettuce from the produce aisle and some fresh chicken breasts from the butcher in the back of the grocery.

But then, as she caught a whiff of some onions—probably being sliced in the deli in the back of the store, right next to the butcher—her stomach lurched, she gagged, and, turning away from her cart, she puked onto the linoleum floor at her feet. Of course, another woman down the aisle rushed over and asked if she was alright, and an employee of the grocery came down the aisle as well, calling for clean up on aisle #4.

Of course, people had poked their heads to peek down the aisle, and a few bystanders had asked if she was okay. But Lovina was so embarrassed, and quickly left the store. She had Antonio pick up the groceries she had forgotten at the store on his way home, but it was so annoying that she couldn't even go grocery shopping without vomiting.

There had been many situations in the last few days it seemed, and Lovina was getting sick of it—literally.

Another week passed, when Antonio finally gave up on giving Lovina Pepto-Bismol and other medicines to cure her vomiting to no avail, and he dragged Lovina to the doctor's office.

"Mrs. Carriedo, did it ever occur to you that you might be pregnant?" The doctor, Dr. Muhammad-Hassan, asked after Lovina had explained her situation. Of course, Lovina looked like a deer caught in the headlights upon hearing his question. "U-Uh, um…well…no, no…" Lovina stammered. Dr. Hassan simply replied, "Well I suggest you go home, buy a pregnancy test, and take it."

Lovina exited Dr. Hassan's office and entered the waiting room to see Antonio waiting for her. "What did he say?" He asked as Lovina approached him. "Stop at the Pharmacy on the way home, Antonio." Lovina replied simply. Then, with a start, Antonio noticed how stunned she looked. A massive wave of worry over took the young husband. "What should I get?" He asked, hoping that would reveal what was wrong with his ailing wife. "A couple pregnancy tests." Lovina said curtly, walking out of the building and to the car as if in a daze. Antonio was left stunned for several moments.

When they arrived back at their apartment, Rico greeted them with a jovial bark. But neither of his owners was in the

* * *

mood for giving belly-rubs to their little terrier. Instead, Lovina, as if she were half-asleep, drifted into the bathroom with a paper bag in hand, Antonio sat down on the couch, his expression bewildered.

Lovina came out of the bathroom an hour later, face pale and green eyes wide. "Pregnant." She breathed simply. "Are you sure?" Antonio asked. Lovina nodded as fell onto the couch next to Antonio, who then hugged her close as she began to whimper. "I—I'm not ready to be a mother, Antonio—I-I'm only twenty years old!" She stammered and cried, clutching onto Antonio's arm like her life depended on it.

"I know we said we would wait…" Antonio began, rubbing her back comfortingly. "But, Lovina…we're going to be parents, you're—" "Having a baby." Lovina finished for Antonio, her voice filled with a mix of emotions that no one could understand at the moment. "I'm having a baby…" Lovina whispered as if it were unbelievable.

**Winter**

Lovina's midsection began to round out and show shortly after the holidays were over. They had announced their impending parenthood on Christmas day—you know, to be as cliché as possible and junk—and everyone had been ecstatic. Their families had celebrated, their friends had teased and congratulated, and they had sat on the couch, blushing sheepishly as people asked every baby related question out there.

How far along are you? Do you want a boy or girl? Do you have any names picked out? Can I be the awesome Godfather? Etcetera, Etcetera. But sadly for them, Lovina and Antonio could offer few answers. Lovina was about three or four months along by the time they told people. Antonio wanted a boy and Lovina wanted a girl, of course. They had no clue what to name the baby. No, Gilbert. Just no. And besides that, they had nothing to offer as an answer to the many other questions regarding the baby.

They hadn't even started preparing for the baby by the time Lovina was five months along. They were, in fact, still living in their one bedroom apartment with their dog by then. So they decided that the first thing they should do was to buy a house.

* * *

"So what exactly are you looking for?" Their real estate agent had asked them when the couple had arrived at her office to discuss buying a house. "Well, as you can see, we're adding a new addition to the family, so definitely a place with lots of space." Antonio said. "And a big yard so I can have a garden and the baby can play when it's older." Lovina added. "Okay." Their agent said as she wrote down what they said. "Anything else?" She asked. "Yes," Lovina answered. "I want to be out in the country—I'm sick of the city! But I also want to be close to the mall and I still want to be in the same school district that Antonio and I went to." She listed demandingly. "Is that it?" The agent asked. "Yes." Lovina nodded curtly. "Okay, I can work with that." The agent said, pleasing Lovina. However, Antonio was left wondering if he would be given any say so in buying his own home.

"Now, I need to know your budget." The agent continued. "500,000 would be our max." Antonio answered. The agent nodded. "Now, since you are having a baby, I assume your not looking for any fixer-uppers," Agent began. "But are you open to it?" She asked. Lovina and Antonio exchanged a look, and nodded. "I would actually like to make the house our own." Lovina said. "But nothing extreme, please. We are on kind of a schedule." Antonio added, indicating Lovina's midsection. The agent simply nodded her.

"I'll get to work."

* * *

A week later, the couple was called out to a residence in the country side by their agent.

"This is a five bedroom farm house with two bathrooms." The agent said as she met the couple in front of the home. The old farm house sat on a large plot of land, a good mile from any other house in any direction. There was a barn about a hundred yards from the house and a garage was attached to the home. The dirt driveway was long, and the front yard was very big. The house itself, from the outside, looked a little worse for wear. The porch looked in need of repair, and the front screen door seemed dated. The white paint of the house was faded, too. But the roof did look new, as did the one on the barn and garage, and the garage door seemed new as well.

"This is a lot of space," Lovina commented, looking around at the front yard. "What's the catch?" She asked. "It does need some repairs to the porch, I'll admit it. Come on, I'll show you the inside." The agent then led the couple inside. The inside was dated, Lovina noticed first. The inside was homey, Antonio noticed first. The wallpaper seemed old, and so did the fixtures. But the floors were wooden and both Lovina and Antonio liked that.

However, as the agent led them further through the house, they noticed more and more work that would need to be done. By the time the tour of the house was complete, Lovina and Antonio had both decided on their own that they wanted something that was more move-in ready.

* * *

A few days later, their agent took them out to a suburb near the country side—the one Gilbert grew up in actually—and showed them a house in the neighborhood. One that Antonio recognized actually.

"Oh my God, this is the Bach house!" Antonio had said in surprise upon seeing the house. It was different from the last time he saw it—windows boarded up and covered in spray-paint—but it was the same house. "The one you and Gilbert practically destroyed as kids?" Lovina asked curiously. Antonio nodded and then let out a laugh. "This really ironic!" He laughed out. Lovina let out a giggle as well. It was rather funny.

The agent ignored their giggles and explained, "This house is a four bedroom with one and a half baths. The yard is small, but it has excellent square-footage and still has plenty of space for your kids to play outside." Antonio and Lovina nodded, however, Lovina didn't like the prospect of not having enough room for a garden. "So let's see the inside!" the agent said with a winning smile, leading the couple inside.

The front door led into the foyer which held the main staircase, which connected to both the living room and a hallway that led back to the kitchen, laundry room, and a small dining room. Lovina liked the wooden floors, crown molding, and the light fixtures very much. While Antonio was a little less than pleased with the lack of space in the dining room, but then again, he had been dealing with having even less dining space in his apartment for years, so he could deal with that. He was delighted when he saw how much space the kitchen had, however, as was Lovina. Both enjoyed cooking, and the new appliances were a great bonus.

The upstairs was a little less than satisfactory, however. The stairs led up to a hall way that held the doors to all the bedrooms and the bathroom. The master bedroom was a nice size, but the other bedrooms—while big square footage-wise—were oddly shaped, making them seem small, and the bathroom, while a decent size, was in need of renovation. Also, there was a lack of storage space as well. When Lovina brought this up to their agent, however, the agent led them outside the house to a set of cellar doors.

"You mean there is no inside entrance to the basement?" Lovina asked. The agent nodded but said, "It's a little inconvenient, but it's not like you will need to come down here very much." She then opened up the cellar doors and led the couple down into the basement. Antonio would admit, there was a lot space, but one thing did bother him. "The half-bath is down here?" The agent nodded sheepishly. "I believe the owner at one point was using this place as an office, and built the bathroom so he didn't have to go outside and inside again to get to the second floor every time he went to the bathroom." She explained. "Yeah, because there's no basement entrance inside the house." Lovina commented snidely, scrunching her nose up at the basement around her.

The back yard was shown next, and as the agent had said, it lacked the proper amount of space for a garden. This didn't sit well with Lovina. The Bach house was losing its appeal, and quickly.

When the tour was done, the price of the house was revealed to be on the low end of their budget, however, so they couldn't help but say they would consider it.

* * *

A week after they were shown the Bach house, they couple was called out to look at yet another house in country side. This one was actually right down the road from Carriedo Estate; whether this was a good or bad thing, neither Lovina nor Antonio knew.

It was in a similar Spanish style as Carriedo Estate, but smaller, two floors instead of three. There was no fountain outside, or garage attached to the house, however, but it did have a pool in the back and the property it sat on was large and open, plenty of room for a garden and for their child to play. The inside was nice—the kitchen needed updated and the rooms repainted, but it was perfect. Four bedrooms and one bathroom, a cellar that had plenty of room and could be entered from inside the house, as well as from outside, wooden floors, and—oh! It was just perfect!

They put in an offer, got the house the next week, and moved in two weeks after that.

* * *

Lovina was six months along when she and Antonio went in on a regular check up and found out the gender of the baby.

"There's the head," The doctor had said, pointing out the head on the ultra-sound screen. "Wow." Antonio breathed, staring at the screen. Lovina kept her eyes firmly on her stomach, trying to imagine the little baby growing inside her. It seemed unreal. "Would you like you know the gender?" The doctor asked. "Yes!" Antonio exclaimed automatically. Lovina, on the other hand, suddenly found her mind too preoccupied with mental images of little boys and girls that looked like her and Antonio to answer.

A moment later, the doctor announced the baby's gender.

"Congratulations, you're having a baby boy!" The doctor informed with a smile. Antonio cheered, but Lovina's eyes grew wide, though. "Come again?" Lovina asked. "You're having a boy." The doctor repeated. All Lovina heard was, "You're going to have a mini-Antonio." Lovina nearly fainted.

* * *

Shortly after finding out the gender, they began work on the nursery. It was the bedroom right next to the master bedroom. It had beige walls and plain white carpet, unlike the hallway and master bedroom that had wooden floors. It was a plain and boring room…until Lovina sank her teeth in it.

A week is all it took for a pregnant Lovina, with Antonio and others' help, to turn the boring bedroom into an ideal nursery for her child. The carpet, first of all, was replaced with wood flooring. The walls were painted red. Next, the crib was built and placed in the corner of the room, next to the window, which was decorated with light white curtains. A white toy box was put at the foot of the bed, and a white changing table was placed by the window against the wall. Next to the changing table was a white bookcase to be filled as time passed. By the bedroom door was a white dresser for the baby's clothes. The floor was covered by a red rug in the shape of a tomato with a patch of green making up the leaves. A cross was hung on one of the walls, but other than that, the walls were bare.

It was a wonderful nursery. However, the couple planned to instead have the baby sleep in a basinet in the master bedroom with them when he's born. But still, Lovina was proud of the nursery.

**Spring **

When Lovina was seven months along, her doctor put her on bed rest…she loved that.

No more housework, no more having to walk around all day with swollen feet, no work having to deal with Rico. Instead, Antonio had to deal with all that—and wait on her, hand and foot, too!

However, since Antonio still had to go to work most of the week, he had to hire someone else to take care of all that: Carlota Menendez. Lovina did not like that one bit. Carlota was Antonio's age, beautiful, and worst of all, she brought every one of Lovina's old fears to the surface.

"Antonio," Lovina whispered one night as they lay in bed in the darkness. "Huh? What?" Antonio asked groggily. "Fire Carlota." Lovina demanded simply. "Is this the hormones talking again like when you punched me in the face for eating the last churro?" He asked tiredly a moment later. "No!" Lovina snapped in her own defense. "I just don't like her!" She explained. "Why?" Antonio asked. "Because she's too pretty!" Lovina growled.

Antonio was silent for several minutes before a laugh escaped his lips. "Y-You're jealous?" He laughed out hysterically. Lovina gaped at him. "Bastard, don't laugh!" Lovina shouted. But Antonio continued to laugh for a few moments more until finally his hysterics died down. "Lovi, don't be jealous," Antonio told his wife, rolling over to straddle her, careful of her large, round midsection. "I love you more than anything." He said lovingly. One of his hands pulled away the sheets covering her body, and then it slipped under her night gown to rub her stomach gently. "And when our son is born, he'll be the only other person in the entire world that I love as much as you." Antonio added.

"Liar." Lovina mumbled her eyes firmly planted on Antonio's hand on her belly. "I'll prove it then." Antonio said, leaning down to kiss her. Lovina flushed bright red, knowing just what he meant by that.

* * *

Lovina couldn't go out for her 21st birthday, so instead of having a big party, she got lots of phone calls and visitors. It was the worst birthday she had ever had.

She didn't get to have a nice party, or even a birthday dinner at a nice restaurant with Antonio. All she got were drawn out phone calls and visits from family members, and after saying happy birthday they only wanted to talk about the baby. Now, Lovina was up to talk about her son any other day of the week, but today was her day. Ask about her, not the baby; you can ask about the baby tomorrow! Antonio did take off from work, though, so that was nice. He made her breakfast in bed, too. But it still sucked not being able to celebrate her 21st birthday—one of the most important birthdays in a person's life, right along side 16th birthdays and 18th birthdays.

The baby also kicked all day. She almost wet herself a couple times, too, and her back hurt like Hell. She was only 30 weeks! Why did it have to be so torturous to be pregnant? Lovina felt 100% miserable, and worse, it was making her bitchy. At one point, she almost had Antonio crying for mercy.

The Carriedo Home was not somewhere you wanted to be that day. But at least the baby would be there soon.

* * *

Two weeks…she was two weeks over due.

Lovina had been taken off of bed-rest a few weeks before, and now, she had spent almost a month waddling around, retaining water, ready to blow any second it seemed. The baby kicked like crazy, as if he wanted out just as much his mother wanted him out. Antonio had taken off from work to keep a watchful eye on his wife, and he was right to do so. Lovina, according to their doctor, could go into labor any day. But on the bright side, Antonio had fired Carlota because apparently she was a thieving bitch.

"UGH~!" Lovina groaned as she fell onto the living room couch. "Why won't you come out?" Lovina whined, looking down at her dispended stomach with pleading green eyes. There wasn't even a kick of response from the baby. Lovina groaned again. Then nature called. "Arg!" Lovina growled, struggling to her feet. She then waddled out of the living room, and then she began to struggle up the stairs. Until Antonio found her. "Lovina!" Antonio yelped in horror. He raced up the stairs to take a hold of her to help her. "What are you doing, idiota?" Lovina groaned with no real venom. "Helping you. You know how dangerous it is to go up the stairs by yourself." Antonio replied seriously.

Antonio helped Lovina up to the bathroom, where she stayed for a good ten minutes. Afterwards, Antonio helped her down the stairs again. When Antonio released his grip on her at the foot of the stairs, Lovina waddled into the kitchen; she was craving chocolate covered tomatoes again. She entered the kitchen slowly, careful of the tile floor, and made her way over to the fridge.

But then, a pain surged through her abdomen. Lovina looked down at her stomach in distress as she gripped the counter for support. The pain passed quickly, but she was still shaken up. Several moments later, she waddled into the living room with a bowl of chocolate covered tomatoes and a can of whipped cream. Yummy.

It was when she sat down on the couch that another surge of pain came. Maybe I sat down too fast or something, Lovina thought, the pain had gone away rather quickly. She turned on the TV with the remote and settled in to watch her favorite soap opera—if her aching back would let her, that is. But by the time the first commercial rolled around, the pain had returned. What the Hell was going on? Lovina thought with a groan. The pain lasted longer this time.

Then something suddenly occurred to her. "Antonio! I think I'm in labor!" Lovina shouted loudly.

Antonio rushed Lovina to the hospital, and 22 hours later, their son was born.

* * *

"What are you going to name him?" Feliciana asked as videotaped her sister and nephew. Lovina was in a hospital gown, her son in her arms, swaddled with care, both exhausted. The whole world seemed peacefully quiet, and no one in the room—Mr. Carriedo, Cathy, Feli, and Antonio—dared to disturb the mother and child. "I don't know…" Lovina replied tiredly, playing with her son's soft little hand gently. The baby gripped his mother's fingers tightly—as tightly as a newborn could—his eyes closed tightly as he slept in her arms.

He was olive-skinned like his parents, of course, and he had wispy dark locks on his little his head. His eyes were blue, as every baby's are when they're born, but they would most likely be green like his parents'. He was perfect as every baby is.

The entire family was in awe of him. Feliciana was stunned silent when she first saw him, and Cathy had started crying. Mr. Carriedo was ecstatic, hugging Antonio when he came into the room and saw the baby. Antonio's reaction had been a mix of all theirs. When his son was just a few seconds old, he had cheered for joy, and later, when he was placed in his arms, cleaned and swaddled, he had began crying, and now, from Lovina's bedside, he looked at his son a stunned silence. He was a father. That baby was his son. It was so shockingly amazing, he almost couldn't believe it.

Lovina's maternal instinct had kicked in the second her son left her body it seemed. Something just clicked. When her son was placed in her arms by Antonio, she felt absolute adoration. It was the first time in her life that someone didn't have to grow on her before she started to like them. No, this person—this little baby—grew inside her and she loved him more than anything. Her baby. Her son. The moment she saw him, she knew she'd f*cking murder someone to protect him.

* * *

Two days later, they brought their son home. Lovina held him in her arms as Antonio carried in their bags. The baby was dressed in a little simple white onesie, sucking on a pacifier, asleep in Lovina's arms. Lovina was rocking a yellow sundress and headband, while Antonio was sporting a red dress-shirt and black slacks.

The couple carried their infant son upstairs and to their bedroom. In the master bedroom, a large window let in lots of sunlight, and the couple's large bed dominated the room, along with two nightstands, a dresser, and a modest white basinet near the foot of the bed. Lovina placed her son gently in the basinet, covering him with the red and green baby blanket his aunt Feli made for him a few months ago.

Lovina felt Antonio wrap his arms around her waist—she was suddenly very aware of her wide hips—and his chin rest on the top of her head. "Miguel Ferdinand Vargas-Carriedo—he's going to get beat up for that name someday, you know." Antonio commented. "Not if I get to them first." Lovina growled. The mere thought of someone hurting her son put her on edge. "Relax. If he takes after me than he'll beat them up his self," Antonio said. "And even if he doesn't take after me, his mama's a fighter." He added. Lovina was torn between being annoyed and being flattered.

"He better take after me, Tomato Bastard." Lovina stated. "Of course, Mi Tomate." Antonio conceded.

The End

* * *

A/N: As a reminder, Antonio was 23—almost 24—at the time of his son's birth, while Lovina had just turned 21. Yes, Miguel will have green eyes. In later squeals of this story, you will most likely see or hear about Miguel when he's older, and maybe even some of his future siblings and cousins.

*SPOILER*—

Miguel will take after his father appearance-wise and personality-wise, however, he will have his mother's foul-mouth.

He will be followed by two younger siblings: a sister, Isabella Katherine "Bella/Izzy" Vargas-Carriedo, and a brother, Manuel Eduardo "Manny" Vargas-Carriedo.

Isabella will look like Lovina, but will be like Antonio-personality-wise. Manny will take after his mother in looks, as well—basically, he'll look like Romano—and will have a personality much like his Aunt Cathy's: sarcastic, calm, and mature (most of the time).


	13. Bonus

Hetalia: Axis Powers: Baby Story

Story One: Antonio X Lovina

Bonus Chapter: "One Scratch and I'll Cut You"

**Spring**

**(Antonio-24; Lovina-22; Miquel-1)**

"Does this dress make my butt look big?" Lovina asked worriedly as she examined her reflection in the full-length mirror that hang on the back of the bedroom door. On the bed, where he was slipping on his shoes, Antonio laughed good-naturedly at her worry and said, "You look beautiful, Lovi! Like a supermodel!" He could see in the mirror, a smug smile spread on her face. "Than all my hard work must be paying off." She stated, cocking one of her hips to the side and doing a little pose in the mirror.

Antonio rather enjoyed that, especially considering that her tight, long-sleeved, white dress showed up her curves very nicely. He was thankful, however, that it reached her knees. He really didn't want to have to punch some guy out at the restaurant. After all, tonight would be their first date since Miguel was born thirteen months before…something Lovina still had mixed feelings about.

"Can't we bring Miguel with or something?" Lovina asked as she approached the bed and sat down next to Antonio. Antonio shook his head sadly. "No children under twelve allowed in the restaurant, Lovi. Miguel will have to stay here with his baby-sitters." Antonio reminded her. Lovina huffed a little and fell back to lie on the bed. "Who is this girl anyway?" Lovina grumbled. Antonio laughed a little under his breath at her dramatics and replied, "She is actually two people, Lovi; a girl and a boy." Lovina snorted and asked, "Well then who are they?" Antonio smiled brightly as he answered, "Maria and Jose!"

Lovina nearly throttled him right then and there. But instead, she simply glared at him. "You…you hired my little cousins…My eighteen year-old and seventeen year-old cousins…to baby-sit our son?" Lovina asked through clenched teeth. Antonio nodded happily and oblivious to his impending doom. Lovina sat up on the bed and began reaching for Antonio's neck.

_Ding-Dong! Ding-Dong!_

The doorbell rang from the down stairs. "I'll get it!" Antonio called, getting up and racing to get the door. Lovina sighed and fell back to her lying position on the bed. As if she'd really do it any ways…She thought with a roll of her eyes. She closed her eyes for a moment, taking a moment to rest as she listened to the door opening down stairs and Antonio's happy little chatter as her cousins entered their home.

Antonio and Jose were doing most of the talking, she could tell, but Maria did interject occasionally with her own two-cents. She couldn't hear what exactly they were talking about, but Antonio and Jose seemed fairly excited about it. That can't be good, Lovina thought.

Lovina lied there for awhile, listening. She didn't get up until Miguel suddenly gave a cry. Sighing, Lovina got up and exited the Master bedroom, and then journeyed five feet down the hall and into the nursery. It had changed in the last year. It was cluttered with baby-things and was clearly worn down, as the carpet had more than a few stains and the toys in the toy-box were a little worse for wear. Lovina approached the crib, reached down, and plucked up her crying child from within.

Miguel, dressed in a little onsie, was now quite big. He was a rather chubby baby, with fat cheeks and a chubby butt and belly. He was so damn cute, Lovina thought as she put Miguel down on the changing table and began to change his diaper. He wasn't the best-behaved baby, however. Bath time and feedings had always been a struggle since he was big enough to actually fight back. Thankfully, however, he didn't wiggle or twist much during changings. Still, Lovina couldn't wait for him to be potty-trained.

When he was clean and thus soothed, Lovina picked him once again and kissed him multiple times on the face, to which he giggled. Lovina loved watching his little face brighten up when she played with him or kissed him or hugged him. So much like Antonio, she thought. They would no doubt be very much alike when Miguel got older, both in personality and appearance.

At the mere age of one, Miguel was already his father's doppelganger. They had the same dark curls, the same olive skin, the same big green eyes, and even the same smile. The only thing he got from Lovina was his baby-fat; she, too, had been a chubby baby. But even so, Lovina was proud of her offspring. Maybe if she got lucky he'd inherit her intelligence.

Lovina carried Miguel in her arms down the stairs to the foyer where her husband and cousins were waiting for her. Jose's face immediately lit up when he saw Miguel, while Maria simply smiled. Antonio gave her a look with very much significance, one he always gave her when she held Miguel in her arms in front of other people. It was a mix of possessiveness and pride and pure love and devotion. Lovina loved that look.

When Lovina reached the foyer, Jose right away started begging to hold his little nephew. They were actually first cousins-once removed, but Jose liked to consider his self Lovina and Feliciana's little brother, as he was an only child, and thus, he considered his self Miguel's uncle. Lovina didn't mind, as long as he didn't go overboard with it. However, she was reluctant to hand over her precious baby to her somewhat air-headed cousin. Instead she handed him—still rather reluctantly—to Maria.

Maria took the baby in her arms very, very carefully, clearly nervous about holding an infant. But once Lovina showed her how to hold him correctly, Maria seemed kind of happy to have the little one in her arms. Lovina knew that Maria would be a good mom someday...if only she stopped acting like an old man all the time. Seriously, she was such a downer.

With Miguel safely in the arms of his distant cousin—the responsible one—Lovina joined Antonio's side by the door, picking her purse up from the table they kept in the foyer. "We'll be back around eleven or midnight, so this is what you need to know," Antonio began with his best authoritive tone. It needed work, Lovina thought. "We want him in bed in the next hour or so; so you should probably feed him in the next half hour and then bathe him. We have baby food in the cabinet over the microwave and a few bottles of milk ready in the fridge. Just remember to heat them up—but test them before you feed them to Miguel. His bath-time things are in a basket by the tub, but remember to keep a careful eye on him at all times. He goes to sleep pretty easily and he usually sleeps through the night, but check on him every once in a while, okay? Oh! And he's allergic to potatoes so be careful!"

Maria and Jose gave him a quizzical look. "How do you know he's allergic to potatoes?" Maria asked. "There was an incident involving a visit to Gilbert & Elda's house. They had a lot of potato-based food there, and we let him taste some mashed potatoes…he kind of broke out in hives a half hour later and we had to take him to the hospital." Antonio explained sheepishly. Lovina shivered, recalling the memory. She had nursed a burning hatred for potatoes ever since.

Antonio took Lovina's hand gently in hers and approached Miguel. He leaned down and kissed his son's forehead and grinned down at him as he pulled away. "Papa will be back soon, Mi Tomate Junior!" He said. Lovina felt like she might burst into tears any moment as she kissed her son on the forehead goodbye. She felt her heart ache a little when she saw that Miguel was fast asleep. He'd have no idea where mama and papa were when he awoke, the poor thing.

With their goodbyes said, the couple began to exit the house.

But then Lovina stopped half-way out the door and turned around, her gaze venomous as she gave her cousins a death-stare unlike any other. Jose hid behind Maria and Maria clutched Miguel to her chest a little tighter. Not out of protectiveness, but as a shield against his mother.

"One scratch and I will cut you. Got that?" Lovina said simply.

Maria and Jose nodded vigorously in fear. With that, the front door closed and two terrified teens were left to take care of the child of the woman they now feared most in the world.

Mamas. Don't mess with them.


End file.
